Communities prepare to open emergency shelters ahead of cold snap

Read the full article at wcax.com. Below is an excerpt.

Bitterly cold weather will be arriving this weekend, and Burlington is among the communities preparing to open emergency shelters.

Both Saturday and Sunday are WCAX First Alert Weather Days as the region is expecting to see the coldest temperatures in several years.

With dangerously cold temperatures on the way, Burlington is taking action to open an emergency shelter. The cold snap could spell trouble for the hundreds of homeless people in Chittenden County.

Year-round, tents line Burlington’s waterfront. Come winter, a few of them have tarps to block the wind and propane heaters to keep warm.

“Cold, snow don’t bother me much. I just don’t care for it. It’s messy. Besides that, it’s just cold out,” said Joe Wright, one of an estimated 200 unhoused people in Chittenden County. “It’s pretty much it. It’s just survive. You go where you can to get warm during the day, or you just cuddle up in your sleeping bags.”

This weekend, Burlington will open a low-barrier extreme cold weather shelter at the Miller Center at Gosse Court.

“The shelter is open to anyone. Folks can show up and walk in. It’s an emergency shelter, so we don’t turn people away,” said Sarah Russell with the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity.

It will be open Friday through Tuesday, from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. Transportation is provided from the Community Resource Center, COTS Daystation, and the Fletcher Free Library. Officials say anyone is welcome, including pets.