Springfield, Massachusetts, church to host emergency overflow shelter as shelters reach capacity

Springfield, Massachusetts, officials announced a new emergency overflow shelter at Wesley United Methodist Church in the Mason Square area off State Street, after the city’s other shelters reached capacity during freezing temperatures. The effort, called “Warming Partners,” will use 25 beds in the church’s lower-level community space.

Local organizations, clergy and others gathered at the church on Tuesday as officials announced the added beds. Most seven-day forecasts showed temperatures dropping into the single digits. Ed Van Zant of Catholic Charities said, “It’s going to be very cold this week, it’s going to be very cold for the next week to come,” and added, “We hope to be open tomorrow evening, we hope to have 25 beds available for the homeless population.”

Officials said much of Springfield’s existing shelter space was already full this winter, and community leaders had been looking for ways to offer more shelter. The city said roughly 200 individual shelter beds were filling quickly as winter arrived. Gerry McCafferty, director of Springfield’s Office of Housing, told WAMC that last November, when state funds for overflow shelters were available, Catholic Charities applied but was passed over while the organization and city worked to identify a potential site.

Warming Partners includes city ARPA funds, Catholic Charities, the United Way of Pioneer Valley and the church itself, including its pastor, Reverend Catharine Cummings. Joan Paris, interim executive director for Catholic Charities in Springfield, told WAMC that about $80,000 in ARPA funds from the city helped make the shelter happen, with further support from donations and assistance from the United Way and other groups. Paris said the idea of using churches emerged from conversations among people who recognized the shortage of shelter. According to the account given at the event, Bishop Robert M. Jones of Mission Church Ministries offered to speak with churches in his network, which led to this church and Reverend Cummings.

Bud Williams, the 11th Hampden state representative, said he had heard about the proposal about a week earlier and that the shelter was in working order shortly afterward. “This happened so fast,” Williams said. “I got a call and they said they’re getting ready to have a warming place, like a week ago.” Cummings said, “When you invest in your churches, your cities, your community – then partnerships come about in a grand way.”

According to Mayor Domenic Sarno, the shelter will open at 6 p.m. when the city announces a winter weather emergency, and guests may stay until 8 a.m. the following morning. Paris said the shelter is set to operate for at least 15 days this winter, with hopes of securing more resources to keep it running as long as possible. Offering a warm place to stay overnight reflects hospitality to those in need (Matthew 25:35).

Paris said she hoped the Warming Partners effort would not be the only one. “On those nights when those shelters are full, these people really are desperate and alone,” she told reporters. “And, as we said, they need to be warm, but they need to be hugged, they need to be spoken to, they need to be held, they need to be guided.”

Sarno also described the city’s Department of Health & Human Services, which sends out an “evening outreach response team” to connect unsheltered people with facilities. He said the city has also made partnerships with a couple of hotels to temporarily house seniors or other vulnerable residents whose heating systems fail while repairs are made. “We have areas for them to be safe and sound and warm, and I think that’s very, very important.”

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