A stretch of dangerously cold weather is taking a toll on some of the region’s most vulnerable residents, prompting volunteers and city services to step up efforts to keep people warm and safe.
Every Wednesday night, volunteers with the Everywhere Project gather in Center City Philadelphia to distribute essential items to people out in the cold. The group also spends Saturday afternoons in Kensington.
“We have hand warmers. We have foil blankets. We have clothing, blankets, coats,” said Tom Frey, operations director for the Everywhere Project.
The group also hands out pantry staples and harm reduction supplies to anyone who needs them.
Frey said the goal is simple: help people while treating them with dignity and respect.
On a typical Wednesday night, he estimates that “probably 75 to 80 percent of our people are unhoused. The other 20 percent have some type of housing but are food insecure.”
Nearly half of the group’s volunteers once relied on the same services themselves, Frey said. One of them is Gary Nicholson of West Philadelphia.
“They showed me something like it wasn’t the end for me,” Nicholson said. “They showed me that I can get out of that hole I was in and be something for somebody else.”
The current deep freeze is expected to last several more days before temperatures rise above freezing. The cold has forced the city’s Office of Homeless Services to cancel Wednesday night’s annual Point-In-Time count, during which teams spread out across Philadelphia to document the number of people experiencing homelessness.
“They need help, and sometimes they crying out for help and we tell them what places to go to get help,” said Towanda Thomas of North Philadelphia.
Connecting people with shelters and warming centers is a major part of the Everywhere Project’s outreach.
No new date has been announced for the Point-In-Time count. The city’s 24-hour warming centers remain open. Click here to see a list.