With temperatures dropping into the teens and single digits this week, Erie’s day shelters are seeing more people come through their doors.
Staff at the Upper Room said that the cold spell has pushed demand higher than usual, with many looking for a warm place to stay for the day.
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Saunders McLauren, the executive director for the Upper Room, said that they get more people in the evening, so they try and coordinate with other businesses to help out.
“In the evening time, though, obviously there is a lot more people, because we coincide with the overflow shelter,” McLauren said. “We have a bus that comes to take people to the overflow shelter. We extended our hours till 7:00 p.m. until the overflow shelter opens, so people can go straight from here to there.”
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McLauren said that donations are always welcome this time of year, as they tend to go through a lot of coats, boots and gloves.
On average, the Upper Room sees 20 to 40 people a day. However, with the cold spell, they are up to 60.
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