Signs indicating cabinets are reserved for Code Blue shelter materials are seen in the Code Blue shelter at Trinity Lutheran Church’s Luther Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 12 2021. (Dan Sokil/MediaNews Group)
Shelter hosted up to 26 guests per night
With winter weather finally in the rearview mirror, Lansdale’s Code Blue shelter is now shuttered for the season.
Organizers gave a look back at the season last week, as the shelter officially closed and cleaned up on April 13.
“It was a long and trying season, but we made a difference with more than a few housing insecure men in the North Penn region,” said shelter organizer Mark Lanan.
Each year for over a decade, volunteers have hosted a shelter at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale, 1000 W. Main St., for anyone who needs a place to stay when temperatures drop dangerously cold. After spending the winter of 2020-21 elsewhere due to COVID-19, the shelter returned to Trinity in 2021-22 and staffed a total of 1,635 hours that season, according to Lanan; for the 2022-23 winter, after a permanent homeless shelter in Norristown was closed in 2022, the Lansdale Code Blue shelter was open for a total of 48 nights, and welcomed 53 different guests, with an average of 11 guests per evening the shelter was open, the organizers told council after that season ended
In an email last week to volunteers and supporters of the shelter, Lanan thanked all who pitched in during the winter of 2023-24, and gave several statistics. The shelter hosted a total of 98 unique guests during a total of 86 Code Blue declarations, more nights than any season since 2009, and achieved another high since that year by using a total of 1,371 cots during those nights.
A minimum number of five and maximum number of 26 guests were sheltered, over a total of 801 shifts filled by a total of 92 unique volunteers, who put in a total of 2,319.5 hours.
Local companies helped too: Clemens Uniforms of Lansdale aided the shelter by laundering 3,428 sheets and blankets for the shelter over the course of the season, and 70 breakfasts were provided by Chef Chipper of AAA Catering.
Anyone interested in donating or helping for the next Code Blue season can email [email protected] or follow “Code Blue Shelter Lansdale, PA” on Facebook.
This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit www.thereporteronline.com.
