ROBESON TWP, Pa.- It started with a Facebook post. A simple message asking for help, saying people living in Reading\u2019s homeless encampments were out of propane. No heat. No way to cook. And bitter cold on the way.<\/p>\n
That call didn\u2019t go unanswered. One of the people who stepped up was Dave Devitt, who works at Lezzer Lumber in Robeson Township.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn winter, it\u2019s a scary time for folks\u2026 individuals who are under the bridges, out in the streets,\u201d Devitt said.<\/p>\n
He knows that fear firsthand. Dave says he\u2019s been there before, living on the streets himself. Now, he\u2019s in a position to help.<\/p>\n
Lezzer Lumber agreed to sell propane at a discount. Dave and his wife covered the rest of the cost. Sixteen propane tanks were filled and delivered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelp from others is crucial, especially during the wintertime,\u201d Devitt said. \u201cThese people are cold. They\u2019re not scary people.\u201d<\/p>\n
For people living outside, heat can mean the difference between getting through the night, or not.<\/p>\n
Those tanks were delivered directly to Tent City by Red City Grinders, a local group that has become a lifeline for people in need.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need our help,\u201d said Joshua Mogel of Red City Grinders. \u201cIt\u2019s about to get really chilly here. And kind of everybody got back to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Red City Grinders started as a small group helping children with cancer. Over time, it expanded to support veterans, families, and people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t want to be in there. They don\u2019t want to be cold,\u201d Mogel said. \u201cThey are actively trying to get out of that community.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the cold stretch settles in, groups across Berks County are stepping up.<\/p>\n
Opportunity House says it has expanded shelter space during Code Blue conditions and has contingency plans in place to ensure no one is turned away during extreme cold.<\/p>\n
For Dave Devitt, the message is simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake the time,\u201d he said. \u201cTake the time and show some compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROBESON TWP, Pa.- It started with a Facebook post. A simple message asking for help, saying people living…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,44437,44436,24909,28,736,128,130,129,44434,12748,44435],"class_list":{"0":"post-89737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-dave-devitt","10":"tag-joshua-mogel","11":"tag-lifeline","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-reading","14":"tag-reading-city","15":"tag-reading-city-headlines","16":"tag-reading-city-news","17":"tag-red-city-grinders","18":"tag-robeson-township","19":"tag-robeson-twp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}