Warm welcome: Springfield site offers refuge from cold

After five years of planning and delay, the Springfield Warming Shelter has opened.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20140122/NEWS02/701229971

Published January 22, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Warm welcome: Springfield site offers refuge from cold By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer NORTH SPRINGFIELD — After five years of planning and delay, the Springfield Warming Shelter has opened. And not a day too soon, with temperatures expected to be stuck below zero at night for the next week. The shelter, located in the back of the North Springfield Baptist Church on Main Street in North Springfield, opened Friday. Paul Cioffi, treasurer of the Springfield Warming Shelter, said Tuesday the facility has a capacity of six people and so far only one or two people have used it. He said he hoped word would get out that the shelter has finally opened. Cioffi said the shelter opens every night at 7 p.m. and closes at 7 a.m. People at the shelter are not fed, he said, but snacks and coffee are available. Another facility, the Springfield Family Center is a state Emergency Day Shelter and serves a free lunch six days a week. Unlike some warming shelters, people who have been drinking are allowed at the Springfield one, as long as they behave. “Our rules are if you come here and you’re not disruptive, you can stay, but if we see alcohol or drugs, we’ll ask you to give them up or leave,” Cioffi said. The North Springfield Baptist Church donated the space for the warming shelter, but a nonprofit organization called the Springfield Warming Shelter is operating it. Cioffi said the shelter has two part-time staff: a shelter manager and a volunteer coordinator. While the shelter has about 40 volunteers, he said more volunteers are always needed. “We’d love as many as we can get. Another 20 to 30 would be great,” Cioffi said. He added that 28 volunteers take shifts in a given week, since there are two shifts of two people each night. Each volunteer works six hours. “You don’t want to burn people out,” said Cioffi, a Perkinsville resident and member of the North Springfield Baptist Church. Cioffi said the shelter is largely the work of Rev. George Keeler of the North Springfield Baptist Church and Rev. Benton “Ben” Monk of the Springfield Assembly of God. Monk is the chairman of the shelter’s board. Neither man could be reached for comment Tuesday. Will Hunter of Cavendish said a group has been meeting for at least three years to discuss starting a warming shelter. He said the group went to Brattleboro to visit the warming shelter there. “We were very revved up to do something,” he said, but finding a location wasn’t easy. There were problems with finding a location with a sprinkler. The Springfield Family Center didn’t want to host the homeless shelter, he said, because there is also a day care center there. Hunter praised the work of the ministers and Cioffi. “The North Springfield Baptist Church got interested again and began talking with the fire marshal,” Hunter said. “Paul really took this on as a project and it finally came together.” Hunter works with many people struggling with substance abuse and homelessness. He said it was difficult to know exactly how many people are homeless in the Springfield area. Many lean on family and friends, “couch surfing” from week to week. But Hunter said he knew of houses that were “quasi-squatter places” — vacant with utilities turned off, but with people staying in them. A homeless man from Claremont, N.H., froze to death last month during the winter’s first big cold spell, Hunter said. “There are plenty of people who are homeless, but how many are outside in the elements all night, no one seems to know,” he said. Cioffi said people who want to make donations to the warming shelter should call him at 952-0028. Those interested in volunteering should contact volunteer coordinator Wayne Miller at 860-502-9572. Cioffi said the group paid for $11,000 in renovations to the shelter in the form of a new emergency exit and smoke and fire alarms. “If anybody wants to contribute financially, we’re just trying to cover our costs,” he said. A fundraising letter will be sent out to local businesses in the near future. 2014TopNewStories