Shelters in Indianapolis fill up as temperatures drop
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – With temperatures expected to remain below freezing through next week, local shelters are starting to fill up as the homeless try to stay warm.
Some shelters are already at capacity, and others are getting close to that point as overflow locations fill up as well.
“Right now, we are going through our winter contingency season where we experience higher numbers than normal,” said William Bumphus, director of Wheeler Mission Ministries Shelter for Men, 205 E. New York St.
Bumphus said Tuesday night that they had 400 men in the shelter and another 50 in their overflow location. According to Wheeler Mission’s Facebook page, the shelter for women and children also filled up Tuesday night. Around 35 women and four kids slept on the floor.
“This is earlier in the season than normal. Usually around this time we average around 350, 375 men. To hit 400 this early, we had 400 by 10 last night, that just kind of shows us what we have to come in the colder days and the days to come,” Bumphus said.
Wheeler Mission isn’t the only shelter filling up. Authorities at The Dayspring Center, 1537 Central Ave., said they have had more than 400 calls for help this month and they’ve had to turn people away because they’re out of space.
“It is definitely heart-wrenching, and, just thinking about this number of men that are homeless, there are still another 600, 700 men who decided not to come in, women as well, so there are several people who decided not to come in, so those are the people I really think about,” Bumphus said.
Shelter leaders are working on finding more permanent solutions for those in need.
“We are just in the process of trying to figure out where they are coming from to see if we can tap into some different resources to get some of these men out of here and housed hopefully,” Bumphus said.
You can visit Wheeler Mission’s website or The Dayspring Center’s website for information on how you can help during this time of need.
Also, The Salvation Army has opened its lobbies for people to get warm, but has not yet opened authorized warming centers. That would happen as part of a joint decision with Indiana Department of Homeland Security and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Warming centers outside Indianapolis
Here are links to warming centers in Columbus, Muncie, Anderson and Elwood.
To add other authorized warming centers in the WISH-TV viewing area to this list, send details to newsdesk@wishtv.com and be sure to include contact information and links to local sources. Mention this online story with your request to add authorized warming centers.