The Salvation Army in Little Rock opened its cooling center Monday for the first time this summer, allowing a respite from the heat to the city's homeless population — at least to those who knew the center was open.
The Salvation Army, located at 1111 West Markham St., was unable to provide a cooling center over this past weekend, when the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory, because the cafeteria where the center is hosted had been painted Friday, Salvation Army’s Director of Social Services Tina McFadden said.
A family of three and two others sat in the cafeteria Monday, with almost 50 chairs going unused in the area. Two homeless men sitting across the street from the air-conditioned building said they were unaware the cooling center had even opened.
Sixty-three percent of homeless individuals in Arkansas do not live in shelters or have access to air-conditioned living spaces, according to a 2013 homeless assessment report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Salvation Army Spokesman Kathy Barbeire said regulars of the shelter will ask if the cooling center is open on hot days. Other than that, they have no means of outreach to the homeless population of Arkansas.
A comprehensive list of cooling centers in Little Rock was not available from City Manager Bruce Moore's office on Monday.
The Salvation Army will continue to open its doors on days with the potential for temperatures to reach over 100 degrees, and its shelter is the only one in Little Rock open to any demographic of person, only excluding sex offenders, Barbeire said.
Homeless people can also go to the Jericho Way Day Resource Center, located at 3000 Confederate Blvd., which is open Monday through Friday and provides a place for homeless people to get out of the heat.