Code Blue shelter organizers Leslie Johnson, left front, and Mark Lanan, right front, speak to volunteers Julia Menzo, second from left, and Linda Rowland inside the kitchen area of the Code Blue shelter at Trinity Lutheran Church’s Luther Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 12 2021. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Volunteers vow to pitch in at second site when finalized
December chills have led to another call for volunteers in Lansdale, and a possible new option in the works for those who need a place ot stay.
Organizers of the Lansdale Code Blue shelter are seeking volunteers to staff that shelter through Dec. 8, and considering a new shelter for women somewhere in town.
“The county has declared Code Blue to Sunday morning. We need a few folks for shifts this weekend and meals for tomorrow night through Saturday night,” said organizers Mark Lanan and Leslie Johnson in a mass message to supporters.
“We anticipate Code Blue conditions until at least December 16th. So let’s try to get the the men’s scheduler filled for all shifts during this period,” the two said.
Located at Trinity Lutheran Church at 1000 W. Main Street in Lansdale, the area’s volunteer Code Blue shelter has operated for over a decade on cold nights, for anyone who needs a place to stay when temperatures drop into the danger zone. For the 2023-24 winter 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.
Training sessions started in October and the shelter organizers put out a first call for volunteers in mid-November, while recognizing local supermarkets and shops that have donated food to the shelter, including Wegman’s, Grocery Outlet, Garden of Health, and Manhattan Bagel, per organizers.
Volunteers can help with the intake shift from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., a first overnight shift from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., a second overnight shift from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m., and/or the breakfast shift from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. Those who can’t put in the hours can help via donations: items sought for those in need include wool socks, fleece hats, long johns, gloves, hand warmers, wool blend scarves, coats, ponchos, umbrellas, and prepackaged food such as energy bars, packs of crackers, or juice boxes; a full list of items is available on the shelter’s Facebook page, and donations can be made via Amazon.com with shipping directly to the church.
In the latest message to followers, the organizers also addressed a topic that caught fire on social media last weekend: the possibility of a shelter for women somewhere in town. The current shelter at Trinity has long hosted only men, and in a mass message in late November Lanan and Johnson said they were investigating a possible site for women, likely “in the southern portion of Lansdale,” asking volunteers if they’re interested.
“The shelter will be an all-women’s shelter, ran similar to the men’s shelter at Trinity Lutheran Church — same volunteer shift setup, same rules and regulations for guests, same open hours, and responds to the same Code Blue declarations from Montgomery County,” the organizers said.
“We do not want to jump fully in without a good volunteer base to support this endeavor. If we say yes to this, it is going to take an additional eight volunteers to cover every Code Blue declaration. It will be a commitment from all of us,” they said.
That idea caught fire on social media over the Thanksgiving weekend, when Linda Rowland — a resident who’s organized numerous donation drives for homeless men living in the gazebo at Lansdale’s Memorial Park and elsewhere in town — posted the news in her “Linda and Friends Helping Hands” Facebook group. That post drew dozens of responses from residents vowing to help when and how they could, and a vow from Johnson to mobilize that manpower: “It’s going to take a village, and it looks like there’s one right here.” Rowland said afterward she was “really excited” to see the strong interest, and vowed to keep that group posted, while those volunteers have also helped collect donated toys for families in need, with enough toys collected to supply roughly 80 kids as of early December.
In an update Monday, Lanan and Johnson said talks were ongoing with Lansdale Borough about the shelter site for women, and “we may be ready as soon as Thursday,” before calling for volunteers to staff shifts at a possible women’s shelter and at the men’s site.
Anyone interested in assisting can call Lanan at (215) 272-4979, contact [email protected] or follow “Code Blue Shelter – Lansdale, PA” on Facebook for more information.
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