St. Joseph nonprofits work to provide relief from the heat

By Kyle Schmidt

Various agencies and organizations are looking to help the St. Joseph homeless community stay safe and comfortable amid the rising temperatures.

“We recently shared a list of those cooling centers, primarily, it’s limited to libraries, both Rolling Hills and St. Joseph Public Library locations during their regular business hours,” said Kylee Strough, president of United Way of Greater St. Joseph. “The Salvation Army also offers up their entryway space as a cooling center.”

Strough said that the extreme heat can take a toll on those who are forced to spend a lot of time outdoors, which is why it’s important to provide indoor rest spaces.

The opening times and location for the centers vary with six different locations in St. Joseph.

Cooling centers include:

Carnegie Library, 316 Massachusetts

Downtown Library, 927 Felix St.

East Hills Library, 502 N. Woodbine

Rolling Hills Library, 1904 N. Belt Highway

The Salvation Army, 602 Messanie

Washington Park Library, 1821 N. Third

Along with places to cool off, the United Way will also be giving out fans again this year.

“Our hope is that the fans help keep people just a little bit better in their own homes while these temperatures pass through this summer,” Strough said.

The fans are intended for the homeless population and people who do not have air conditioning in their homes.

“We started that three years ago when there was a very early heatwave in early June,” Strough said. “We continued it last year, and this year we’re a little bit ahead of the game. We’ve put the fans out there before it got too awfully hot.”

Currently, United Way is running low on fans, but they are collecting contact information from anyone in need who reaches out. They will reach back out if unable to serve initially.

People can pick up fans at AFL-CIO Community Services on Sixth Street, Salvation Army entering on the south end and United Way office in Downtown St. Joseph.

Community Missions will also help out this summer by providing homeless individuals a place to take a shower. Rachael Bittiker, executive director of Community Missions, spoke about the positives of the showers on its campus.

“So last year we decided, Downtown where most of the individuals come for services, or live or close close by, there wasn’t any restrooms … Also there was nowhere for these individuals to kind of get out of the heat, and receive a shower, plus get case management on top of that,” Bittiker said. “It provides those services that we didn’t have in our community as far as showers goes, but it’s also a good way to reach individuals that maybe have never been connected to services before.”