The Free Store Corpus Christi swiftly responds by distributing vital clothing to those in need during cold weather.<\/p>\n
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 The Free Store Corpus Christi is often among the first nonprofits to respond during a crisis, especially in cold weather.<\/p>\n
CEO and founder Marliena Garza said within 30 minutes of arriving at the FEMA Dome, the nonprofit nearly ran out of 60 pounds of clothing, but that hasn\u2019t stopped the group from continuing to help keep the community warm.<\/p>\n
\u201cHomelessness is not a crime. It\u2019s not a crime to be poor, and we are all very, very much closer to being here in one of these warming shelters,\u201d Garza said. \u201cIn the blink of an eye, you could lose your home and be here, and you\u2019ll be relieved to see someone like me walking through the door because you\u2019ll know the Free Store is here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allan Byrd understands firsthand what the homeless community may be facing during cold weather.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got a situation where you have people who are used to warm weather, and all of a sudden it comes up,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cThey\u2019re not either mentally or physically able to take care, and then boom, it\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n
After getting help from Garza and her nonprofit, Byrd is now giving back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have because I was homeless. I got in a situation that it created, and of course I\u2019ve wiggled my way out,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cI\u2019ve sometimes been helping here, and she has helped, and I\u2019ve known her for a couple of years and watched her help. You\u2019ve just got to pass it on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nonprofit is always prepared, even with a 12-hour notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese cold snaps push us to our logistical limits. We plan for these cold snaps eight to nine months in advance, so the jacket donations we receive that we don\u2019t give out are vacuum-sealed,\u201d Garza said.<\/p>\n
Especially during cold weather, Garza said it\u2019s important to help keep everyone bundled up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of life and death. You can succumb to hypothermia and frostbite in temperatures as high as 70 degrees,\u201d Garza said. \u201cIf you get wet and the wind is blowing hard enough, you could die, and we\u2019re going to be seeing temperatures tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garza said the nonprofit will continue distributing warm clothing. \u00a0To donate to The Free Store Corpus Christi, you can drop items at 702 Furman Ave from 8am-8pm. For more information on the Free Store click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Free Store Corpus Christi swiftly responds by distributing vital clothing to those in need during cold weather.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-138153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}