Sharing Warmth and Welcome in Woodlawn
We’ve already experienced more than a few nights when the temperatures have dipped below freezing here in Birmingham. To provide some warmth for our neighbors, we collected coats, blankets, hats, gloves, and socks to share through our community outreach in Avondale. Because you were so generous, we collected so many of these items that we had enough to share with our friends at the GraceWorks Warming Station in Woodlawn, too. (See the slideshow of photos to get a sense of what the warming station is like.) We are grateful for your generosity in sharing some wintertime warmth with our Birmingham neighbors in need.
People who are experiencing homelessness find themselves in need of a warm place to sleep on these freezing nights. However, as with all else, the pandemic has complicated the logistics of opening emergency warming stations this winter. When Deacon CJ Van Slyke mentioned that our friend Kay Williams at GraceWorks was encountering some hurdles to opening the warming station this year, we at Saint Stephen’s asked what we could do to help.
On behalf of GraceWorks, Kay had applied for a grant to pay for plexiglass dividers to place between the 14 cots to keep guests physically distanced and decrease the likelihood of spreading COVID-19. However, when she realized that the grant decisions would not be made for another couple of weeks, she knew that if they waited until then to order the plexiglass dividers, then the warming station would be further delayed in opening for the season. Saint Stephen’s was able to advance the needed funding to GraceWorks, thereby allowing the overnight warming station to open 10-14 days earlier this season than it otherwise would have. Given how early in December we began to experience freezing temperatures, opening the emergency shelter earlier meant that homeless individuals in Woodlawn were able to get out of the cold and into a warm, welcoming place that much sooner.
While we have helped to meet these material needs of plexiglass dividers between the cots and warm coats, blankets, gloves, hats, and socks, the GraceWorks Warming Station could still benefit from our help for the remainder of this winter season. For each freezing night that the overnight shelter needs to open, several volunteers are needed to sanitize and set up the cots and dividers, lay out the blankets and sheets, brew the coffee and hot cocoa, put out the hot dinners and snacks, monitor the shelter overnight, and put everything away in the morning.
When the forecast is for freezing overnight temperatures, Kay Williams sends out a call for help via her volunteer email blasts. Please consider whether God may be calling you to give even just an hour or two of your time to this worthwhile community ministry. The first step is reaching out to Kay to ask that she add your email address to her volunteer list. Then, when it looks like the warming shelter will need to open, you will get an email asking if you are available to help and which task you would like to volunteer to do. Maybe even consider asking a Saint Stephen’s friend to sign up along with you so you can drive over to volunteer together.
To be added to the GraceWorks Warming Station volunteer list, please email Kay Williams.
—Becky+