CONWAY — The Conway Ministry Center’s winter warming station sheltered 35 people — including a 3-month-old baby — on an emergency basis last week because of below-freezing temperatures, said Spring Hunter, executive director of the organization.
Although the warming station won’t officially open until Dec. 15, the city of Conway allowed the center to open two nights because of the “extremely dangerous cold” temperatures last week, she said.
“We had a pretty full house,” Hunter said. There were 35 people in the center, and she has 40 cots. Hunter said she’s looking for another 20 to accommodate more people this year. They don’t have to be new cots, she said, if an organization has some she can borrow for the season.
This is the third year the winter-warming station at 701 Polk St. has been open, although the ministry center has provided a version of a warming center for the past six years, Hunter said.
“At first, it was only open in ice and snow; part of that is building trust with the city,” she said.
“The big change we experienced [from the first year] is we’ve had kids with us. We’re trying to set it up where I have a dorm for men, a dorm for women and a dorm specifically for families with children,” she said.
The warming station will be open regularly from Dec. 15 through Feb. 15 any time the temperature is below 40 degrees. The hours of stay have been extended this year, Hunter said. People may enter at 6 p.m. and leave by 8 a.m.
Hunter said the 2019 annual homeless count identified 964 homeless people in Faulkner County, including 588 school-age kids, “whether that’s staying at a friend’s house, staying in a garage,” she said.
Overnight guests are served a hot meal every night the warming center is open, and the ministry center works with Bethlehem House, a transitional homeless shelter, to provide showers.
“Warrant checks and sex-offender checks are conducted on everyone. We don’t have sex offenders. If a sex offender tries to come in, we get them a to-go meal and give them a sleeping bag,” she said.
Hunter said the warming-station managers are told, “Your first job is to keep the people in this place safe.”
“We have pretty strict zero-tolerance rules,” she said. “This is meant to be a safe place for people to sleep, and if you can’t do that, you can’t be here.”
Hunter said if people become upset with each other, they are told to go take a walk to cool off.
“I’ve yet to have anyone do anything wild or violent. They might yell a little bit,” Hunter said. “We tell them, ‘This is a privilege, and if something goes wrong, every person in here, every child, every old lady, may not have a place to sleep tonight, may be back out on the streets.’ We’ve yet to have any serious issue whatsoever. There’s never even been a punch thrown in the warming station.”
She said the Conway Police Department has been an asset to the warming station.
“The Police Department has been really great, as far as if there’s an emergency opening, they kind of comb the streets, and they pick [homeless individuals] up and bring them to us,” she said.
Hunter said an officer brought an 18-year-old developmentally delayed man to the warming station on Monday.
“He just had a rough family situation and got kicked out and was walking the streets. The officer saw this kid walking. … He didn’t have anywhere to go. The officer said, ‘I know a place that will keep you safe.’”
The Conway Fire Department worked in 2017 to make sure the Conway Ministry Center was up to code for the warming station, and Conway Mayor Bart Castleberry said in an earlier interview, “This is cold weather; it can actually kill people. They were kind enough to open up their place.”
Hunter said that in case of an emergency opening, “I get the word out through the homeless service providers,” she said, including The Salvation Army, Bethlehem House, City of Hope Outreach and the Community Action Program for Central Arkansas. Hunter can be reached at spring@ministrycenter.org.
She also said donations are needed, including gifts cards to McDonald’s or Burger King, to give out at Christmas to those at the warming station.
“Christmas is kind of a wild card because I do like to make sure everybody gets something,” she said. “Last year, I had three families that were with us at Christmas, so I was scrambling to put together Christmas.”
Hunter said a wish list of items the center needs is available on the warming-station page on the website conwayministrycenter.org.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-5671 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.