Churches offer shelter from Christmas chill | Palatka Daily News, Palatka, Florida

Residents settle in for the night Friday at the First Presbyterian Westminster Hall cold weather shelter in Palatka.
Gary Houser, a visitor at First Presbyterian Church’s Westminster Hall cold weather shelter, unpacks supplies Friday night.
Rachel Devane, who also took refuge at the Palatka shelter, eats dinner provided by local nonprofit Bread of Life.

As frigid weather descends on Putnam County, many residents are likely settling in for a long and mostly indoor Christmas weekend with family.

But Rachel Devane doesn’t have family in the area. She doesn’t have a house, either. Or a sleeping bag, for that matter.

For Devane, this Christmas is about keeping warm. That’s why she’s seeking refuge this weekend at First Presbyterian Church’s fellowship hall, one of two cold weather shelters in Palatka that opened Friday evening and will be open between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. tonight and Sunday.

With thermometers forecast to dip into the low 20s, dozens of Putnam County residents are taking time out of their Christmas weekends to make these shelters available for people in need. Devane said that act of generosity could be a matter of life or death for her.

“Tonight I would freeze to death, probably, if it weren’t for these people,” she said Friday.

Driven by faith

The two cold weather shelters – First Presbyterian’s Westminster Hall, 126 S. Second St., and Life Church, 2701 Reid St. – opened for the first time ever in January and again in March.

First Presbyterian Pastor Cliff Lyda said he has received a tremendous amount of help from the community, especially during this most recent bout of frigid temperatures.

“We’ve had people stop today and drop off stuff. I don’t know who they are,” he said.

The pastor said he now has boxes full of donated clothes that he didn’t even ask for, and he plans to distribute those items to this weekend’s visitors. He’s also been busy since the previous winter revamping the fellowship hall by installing new bathrooms, showers, and washers and dryers.

Most importantly, Lyda said, he has been filling out his roster of volunteers. More than 40 people have volunteered to take shifts during the long nights, ensuring the two shelters remain safe as well as warm.

Volunteer Donald Holton, who also served at one of the cold weather shelters earlier this year, said his religious faith is what compels him to help.

“We are commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to take care of his people. That’s it. Period,” Holton said.

Volunteer Sherry Mills agreed, adding that she particularly draws inspiration from Matthew 25, a chapter in the New Testament in which Jesus instructs his disciples to care for the hungry, incarcerated, sick and naked.

“Matthew 25 is just common sense of loving people where they’re at, meeting people where they are,” Mills said.

If she wasn’t volunteering at the Westminster Hall shelter Friday night, Mills said, she would probably be enjoying a cozy evening of baking cookies with her grandchildren and listening to Christmas music. But she said this shelter is worth it.

“My grandkids, I’m not gonna wake up with them in the morning,” Mills said. “But you know what? That’s OK. Because they know what we’re doing. My 9-year-old gets it.”

‘A merry Christmas’

About six people had sought shelter at Westminster Hall by 7:30 p.m. Friday, and one person had settled in for the night at Life Church.

Visitor Orediece Boswell said these shelters are a great help during a part of a year that is especially difficult for him.

Boswell said his mother, who was born on Christmas, died several months ago, leaving him with no surviving family members. And while Boswell, who is homeless, normally stays with a friend on cold nights like Friday, that friend’s house is full of people right now, putting him in a tough spot.

“I don’t like the cold. I hate the cold,” Boswell said.

Not everyone who visited a shelter Friday lives on the streets, however.

Visitor Gary Houser said he recently moved from Ohio onto a piece of property his family owns in Crescent City. He’s been staying in a tent as he plans to develop the land, but he said he didn’t prepare for weather this cold.

“I’m very grateful for this (shelter),” Houser said. “It was not looking to be like a merry Christmas for me, but now, this helps a lot.”

In addition to keeping her warm, Devane said the shelter also keeps her safe.

“You always got to have one eye open, one eye shut,” Devane said of her experience with homelessness.

Although Devane expressed gratitude for the volunteers’ help, she also questioned why these cold weather shelters are necessary.

“It’s wonderful, but they should have more homeless shelters in Putnam County,” she said. “This is people stepping up to help us because Putnam County is not doing anything.”

Putnam County’s homeless shelter closed in 1999 after homeless men were convicted of murdering two social workers there on separate occasions.

Westminster Hall will not become a homeless shelter, Lyda said. But he does plan to have it open any night this winter when temperatures are expected to drop below freezing.

Lyda said the biggest challenge was getting the shelter started in January. Now that it’s here, he hopes to continue growing his list of volunteers.

“Nobody wants to do this, but if they find somebody that will do it,” Lyda said, it’s “like a shower” of support.

Devane said the help means more than volunteers might realize.

“I appreciate these people,” she said.