WILMINGTON — As temperatures are anticipated to drop in the next two days, the area’s emergency pop-up shelter will open as refuge for those experiencing homelessness.
Tuesday, Dec. 19 and Wednesday, Dec. 20, Warming Shelter ILM at Grace United Methodist Church, 401 Grace St., will open to anyone needing a warm, safe space to sleep. Guests check in at 5:30 p.m. and are provided food, blankets and care items. Pets cannot be accommodated.
Each night of shelter operations requires at least 30 volunteers to fill a variety of roles including set up and clean up, food preparation, laundry and compassionate care; it costs $550 per night to run the shelter, funded by grants and donations.
Those interested in volunteering can apply here and must go through a vetting process.
Hosted at Grace UMC, the Warming Shelter is co-organized by Rev. Meg McBride with Hope Recovery United Methodist Church and Rev. Randy Evans of The Feast Gathering United Methodist Church. The work is supported by other churches, nonprofits and government agencies.
“We are simply church folk organizing a triage effort to provide life-saving care during
cold weather events,” McBridge said in a press release. “Our mission is to help relieve the suffering of the unhoused by showing radical hospitality.”
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