Salvation Army opens cold night shelter

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With temperatures expected to drop Wednesday through Friday nights this week, The Salvation Army of Northeast Florida will open its cold night shelter on West Adams Street, the organization announced Wednesday.

The shelter, which is an overflow facility designed to take in homeless men, women and families who would otherwise be out in the cold all night, is located at 900 W. Adams St. in downtown Jacksonville. It is open on nights forecast to be 40 degrees or below in Northeast Florida.

In addition to offering a warm space to sleep, The Salvation Army also provides hot meals and has volunteers to monitor the shelter.

Typically about 75 people take advantage of the shelter to avoid potentially life-threatening low temperatures, the organization said.

"We believe that the cold night shelter is critical to our mission at The Salvation Army," area Commander Thomas McWilliams said in a news release. "We seek to serve those in the most need, and people with no place to go on a cold night certainly fall into that category. We won't turn anyone away who needs a warm place to stay." 

McWilliams says the shelter feeds people 365 days a year, giving men and women a chance to converse and share a meal through the cold winter nights.

"The thing that really strikes me is when I see families come in, and we have them every night coming in with kids," said McWilliams. You know that those parents are really trying to get by and do what they need to do."

The cold weather shelter will be open to house people for the next two days. It's first come, first served, and people needing a place to sleep should arrive by 6 p.m. Thursday.