During bitter-cold nights last winter, the homeless could count on a warm bed, hot food and companionship at the “16 Degrees and Below” emergency shelter at Asbury Methodist Church at 385 East Main St. in Bradford.
Officials at Asbury said that while the shelter will not be open regularly this winter season, they can open the facility on a moment’s notice if contacted by police or other emergency agencies.
Tom Leposa, lay minister at the church, was instrumental in starting the shelter last year after reports of homeless in the community surfaced. The facility was staffed with volunteers last winter, but on several occasions the shelter in the basement of the church sat empty, devoid of homeless occupants. Leposa said the volunteer base dwindled this year, possibly because of this, or for other reasons.
“Right now we don’t have the volunteer base, so it will be open basically on an emergency basis,” Leposa said of the shelter. “If the police or the YWCA calls us and says ‘Hey, we have somebody, can you put them up’ then we’ll open.
“For emergency situations, of course we’re going to open,” he added. “I’ll go down there and man it myself if I have to.”
The church opened the overnight shelter a year ago to address the issue of homelessness in the area community. Church officials worked in conjunction with the McKean County Housing Coalition, other churches and YWCA Bradford to ensure the homeless would have a warm place to stay on critically cold nights.
Volunteers who signed up participated in training provided by the American Red Cross. In addition, Asbury received donations of supplies, money and food from other churches to ensure all who received shelter were comfortable. Over the course of the winter, several people who arrived on the doorsteps of the church, including senior citizens, received help.
“We’re still there if something comes up,” Leposa commented.
The Rev. Matt Blake, pastor of Asbury, said he, too, wants to make the church available for all emergency cases.
“We’ll figure out something for them … if there’s a homeless shelter I’m not going to let them sleep out on the street,” Blake said in echoing Leposa’s comments. “Our big (issue) has been volunteers, we had one or two volunteers who wanted to help on a very limited time schedule.”
Blake said the church is still evaluating the need in the community and continues to work with the Housing Coalition to figure out a solution for the issue.
“Community awareness is a big thing,” he continued. “If somebody knows of someone sleeping under a bridge or something, they should contact the police. If we know (of this) then we can get the word to the homeless.”
Blake said another of Asbury’s facilities that can help the homeless during the day is the volunteer-run Whole Latte Love Cafe, located in the old Congress Street Diner near Main Street.
“That’s a warm place where during the day they can go, get warm and have a cup of coffee,” he said. “We have pay-it-forward slips there, so if they don’t have any money they can get a cup of coffee.”
