ARKANSAS, USA — Update: 7hills Homeless Center announced it is over capacity. Fayetteville's C.R.E.W. response has temporarily moved services to the MLK Jr. Potter's House location next to Genesis Church. The 7hills location on South School Avenue is not open as of Tuesday, Jan. 16.
Original story:
Snow made landfall in our area twice in the first week of the new year and more is on the way. Many people suffer from a lack of resources to stay warm during the freezing temperatures.
Luckily, warming shelters in the area are available to give some relief to those in need.
"We'll see a lot of people come here to the day center," 7hills case manager Glyn Holden said. "It will kind of be like the daytime staging area where people will go to where they're going to be staying overnight and communicating that with the clients, where they'll be able to stay overnight."
Salvation Army Captain Patrick Connelly said they provide 100 beds between their Bentonville and Fayetteville shelters. With the cold temperatures, he explained that they could overflow to 150 spaces in total. With a warm break from the cold temperatures on Wednesday, Jan. 10, shelter leaders met in Fayetteville's C.R.E.W., or Collaborative Response to Extreme Weather, to prepare for the freezing weekend.
"There's a whole lot going into behind the scenes to make sure that we have personnel who are here, who were able to keep the ship running," Cpt. Connelly said.
Other shelters like St. James and Genesis Church will open spaces as overnight shelters once temperatures drop below 32 degrees.
"We've already had kind of a warm-up as we're getting into this. But this is a long haul we're looking at five to seven days where the temperatures are going to be inhospitable. And so we've already begun preparations here for some 24-hour operations," Cpt. Connelly said.
At Fort Smith's Salvation Army, Captain Bradley Hargis said that their shelter was still in construction after dealing with issues from last year's cold snap. He estimated that it should be done by the end of February.
Until then, they provide meals and a warm place during the day. The Salvation Army in Fort Smith is also helping people find a place to stay with individuals heading to the Hope Campus and families sent to the Community Rescue Mission.
Hope Campus' Chris Joannides said they'll serve as a warming station anytime it's below 32 degrees. He says they have no limit for overnight, but they are behavior-based saying, "You misbehave, you leave. Straight forward."
"It can be life or death out there if it's cold," Cpt. Hargis said.
While the Salvation Army in Fayetteville has kennels outside for their client's pets, they cannot stay inside the shelter alongside their owners (excluding service animals). The Salvation Army does say though that they have a partnership with an animal shelter nearby that can board the pets for 10 days.
Here's a list of warming centers across the area:
Fort Smith
- Salvation Army - 504 North D Street in Fort Smith | 479-783-6145
- Next Step Homeless Services - 123 North 6th Street | 479-782-5433
- Riverview Hope Campus - 301 South E Street | 479-688-4764
Fayetteville
- Salvation Army - 219 W 15th Street | 479-521-2151
- Genesis Church - 205 M.L.K. Jr. Blvd. | 479-442-1827
- New Beginnings - 251 W 19th Street
- St. James Missionary Baptist Church - 764 W North Street | 479-521-0961
Springdale
- Elmdale Baptist Church - 1700 W Huntsville Ave | 479-304-9464
Johnson County
- Clarksville Police Department Lobby - 1008 W Main St. | 479-754-8100
- Johnson County Detention Center Lobby - 301 Porter Industrial Road, Suite 3 | 479-754-2200
- Marvin Vinson Activity Center - 1611 Oakland Street | 479-754-5050
- Safe Haven - 1157 South Rogers Street | 844-723-3476
Rogers
Zumba Instructor Maga Felix has offered her dance studio as a warming shelter for anyone in need. If anyone needs to access it, she says you can contact her at 479-366-1275 and she can help.
Bentonville
- Bentonville Emergency Shelter: 3305 S.W. I Street | 479-271-9545
Oklahoma
- Octavia Baptist Church - 68623 N U.S. Hwy 259 | 580-703-3827
- Hodgen First Baptist Church - 20499 Church Rd | 918-653-7490
- Southside Baptist Church Poteau - 505 Holsen Avenue | 918-647-2244
- Panama First Baptist Church - 107 Jones Street | 918-963-2321
- First Baptist Church Spiro - 200 W Broadway | 918-962-2885
- Cross Community Church in Pocola - 504 S Pocola Boulevard | 918-647-3258
- The SHED - 100 E. Cherokee Avenue, Sallisaw | 918-774-3120
For more information, you can contact each location at the numbers listed.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.