More than 800 people have stayed at the shelter set up at Fair Park on the coldest nights of the current weather system. Several non-profits are working together to provide housing for up to 900 people a night inside Grand Place.
Wayne Walker, chief executive of the non-profit, OurCalling, says numbers have stayed between 650 and 850 people. He says several non-profits are working together to make sure they have beds in case they run out of room at Fair Park.
"The collaboration between the non-profits that work in this space is a beautiful thing," he says. "All year long, we all work together. We meet regularly; we plan regularly."
Walker says OurCalling is working with Austin Street Shelter and Oak Lawn United Methodist Church to provide additional beds. He says Bring the Light Ministries has "brought us pallets and pallets of food," and Texas Baptist Men have provided breakfast and dinners.
Walker says crowds ebb and flow with fewer people staying in the building Thursday as temperatures climbed toward 60 degrees.
"They're getting a little stir crazy. They want to go outside. They want to stretch their legs. I totally get it," he says.
Walker says he expects the crowd to grow again with temperatures expected to drop into the 20s Thursday night and stay in the 20s and 30s through Sunday. He says volunteers warned people staying at Grand Place about the forecast Thursday morning, and they will send an alert to people who may have returned to camps.
Walker says the Dallas County Fire Marshal's office has been making sure walkways at Grand Place stay clear. Dallas Police and Dallas Fire Rescue are providing security and medical help. Parkland Hospital and Watermark Health have parked buses in front of the building for checkups, and North Texas Behavioral Health is providing mental health screenings.
"In isolation, people are in crisis," Walker says. "We're trying to restore broken communities through faith and through housing, helping people get into long term programs to help them restore their humanity."
Walker says the shelter at Fair Park costs about $50,000 per day. He says the City of Dallas will reimburse some of those costs, but OurCalling has already used its entire budget to deal with inclement weather for the year.
"As the inclement weather continues, we would ask the community to give generously to all the organizations involved," he says. "We definitely need more blankets. We definitely need more coats, and we definitely need more people to volunteer."
OurCalling has an updated list of its needs at https://www.ourcalling.org/cold/ .
Last year's "point in time" count showed 4,244 homeless people living in Dallas and Collin Counties. The number had dropped from 4,410 in 2022, and Walker says non-profits always work together to help people find steady housing.
"We don't do this just when it gets cold. We do this every single day," he says. "We would love people to find ways to participate in serving the homeless community in helping them get off the street."
Read the first story on OurCalling here.
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