Warming center a no-go in Merced for lack of volunteers

Citing a lack of volunteers to run it, Merced County Rescue Mission leaders said the warming center will not be going up this year.

The center, which is essentially a tarp tent filled with cots and space heaters, was up for about four months last year to provide a haven for homeless people on the coldest nights in Merced.

The 10-cot warming center had been set up behind the mission in past years and was moved last year to the recreation yard of the former juvenile hall on B Street, south of 13th Street.

Bruce Metcalf, the executive director of the mission, said he is not against using the center, but he would need volunteers or perhaps a group to help. Meanwhile, he said, his staff is looking into alternatives, such as using a church as a warming center.

“If everybody steps up to the plate, we’re happy to coordinate it,” he said. “We’re happy to do what we need to do, but we need help.”

The mission and the D Street Shelter provide beds, but they sometimes fill up and people must be turned away.

The city of Merced has no plans to run a warming center on the taxpayers’ dime. “We will work with whoever wants to do it, but at this point we don’t have it budgeted,” City Manager John Bramble said.

Earlier this week, the National Weather Service in Hanford issued a hard freeze warning from Wednesday evening through Thursday morning in the Valley. A hard freeze is anytime the temperature drops to 28 degrees or below.

According to the last homeless count by the Merced County Continuum of Care, there are 768 homeless people in Merced County, including 21 children. Merced is home to 476 homeless people, the tally showed.

Renee Davenport, who serves on Continuum of Care committees, said identifying a public building owned by the city or the county is the best solution. She said she struggles with figuring out why that hasn’t happened. “That, to me, is just unbelievable,” she said.

Some cities in the county use public buildings as warming shelters and pay to have them staffed. In Los Banos, the Miller & Lux building at Sixth and I streets is opened up whenever the temperature is expected to drop below 32 degrees on three consecutive nights, according to Fire Chief Tim Marrison. “If the National Weather Service predicts that episode, we’ll open it for however long it’s below 32 degrees,” he said.

The shelter is run by volunteers and a rotation of one paid public works employee at a time. Staff said it attracts 10 to 15 who stay through the night.

In Dos Palos, the City Council chamber and its lobby are open 24 hours a day for anybody who needs a respite from the weather, according to City Manager Darrell Fonseca. He noted that it gets much more use during the hot summer days than cold winter nights.

“We don’t have a high need for it, because we have such a low number (of homeless) here,” Fonseca said. “But we make it available, just in case.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2015 at 7:39 PM with the headline "Warming center a no-go in Merced for lack of volunteers."