Lansdale OKs parks building for women’s Code Blue shelter

Just days after coming up for discussion, a new Code Blue shelter for women in Lansdale is a step closer to reality.

Council’s parks and recreation committee voted Wednesday to allow the Wissahickon Park building, located at Main Street and Lakeview Drive, for use as a shelter for women.

“Basically, a lot of community members, the county, and local government coming together to solve this problem, because it is cold out there,” said parks and rec committee chairwoman Rachael Bollens. “We’re really proud to hopefully be able to offer this in Lansdale.”

Volunteers have staffed a shelter for men at Trinity Lutheran Church at 1000 W. Main Street in Lansdale, which has operated for over a decade on cold nights, for anyone who needs a place to stay when temperatures drop dangerously low. 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 for this winter’s Code Blue season started in October, shelter organizers put out a first call for volunteers in November, and over the weekend called for help staffing the men’s shelter through mid-December, while asking the community for interest in a women’s site. Dozens of residents commented that they’d help out, and the organizers said at the time they were in talks with the borough about a location.

That location was made public Wednesday night, when Bollens reported that her committee had discussed the request and approved it, offering “thanks to the folks that worked on this and pushed it through quickly.”

“It moved super fast — we’re really hoping we can be an example for other communities,” she said.

Council President Mary Fuller added that part of the talks at the committee level centered on whether or not full council needed to approve the use of the building, and the committee gave their OK to do so.

“We hope that it’s literally any day now. We’re just putting the final pieces in place, and once we can pull the trigger, we’ll start filling those beds,” she said.

During a visit to the men's shelter on Wednesday night before the council meeting, two men waited in the chilly night on the porch near the entrance, as Lanan carried in loads of clean laundry and prepared the room full of cots already set up for use, and walked past a bulletin board full of nametags for men to mark their belongings.

"I'll come back at quarter-to-seven, and there'll be ten guys waiting to come in," he said.

Changes since prior years include new donated foam mats atop the shelter's cots, clear bags to store belongings because backpacks caused arguments in prior years, and an ever-growing demand for a place to stay.

"We've never had any issues with fights, or anything like that. What I've seen a lot of is, men who work a shift here and their wives want a place to help out. Hopefully we can offer that soon," Lanan said.

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.

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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