ABILENE, Texas — 2025 is expected to bring some cold air to the Big Country next week.
Local nonprofits are preparing now to make sure no one faces the cold alone.
“It’s what we do,” Director of Love and Care Ministries, Mark Hewitt. “We’ve been doing it for 30 years here at Love and Care is helping people in need, that’s what we’re called to do, that’s what I’m called to do. And so we wanna help people stay warm.”
Hewitt told us helping people comes in many different forms.
“I know our team is prepared for early morning rushes,” Hewitt said. “We open doors about 6:30, if it’s cold cold we’ll open them early because we’re here. And so they’ll be able to serve them breakfast and lunch and they’ll be able to stay in what we call our dining room throughout that time since it’s cold. We’ll also be ready to give them the items that basically Mission Thanksgiving helped us with, with the blankets and the coats and the sleeping bags those items, toboggans.”
Something like a jacket may seem simple but the warmth it can provide can be the difference between comfort and misery for those without a warm place to stay when the cold weather blows in.
“There are a lot of people in our city that have very little heat, and whether it’s a big home or a small home, they may not be able to afford a lot and so we try to help the housing families, the families that come in who have housing to stay warm in their bed and sometimes that may mean two or three blankets,” Hewitt said. “That may mean a sleeping bag and a blanket for their child or whomever they may be.”
While Love and Care is helping people bundle up, the Salvation Army is offering a roof over their heads to escape the elements for the night.
“We open up our lobby for overflow so that when inclement weather comes in and it gets a little frigid outside, or wintery mix, whatever the case may be, we invite people to come in, spend the night,” Development Manager for the Salvation Army, Andre Gwinn said. “They’ll have access to a cot and blanket and then of course the meals that we serve throughout the day.”
Gwinn told us when the tempatures drop they usually see 20 to 30 more people looking for shelter, which they said they’re happy to provide because the cold can often be dangerous.
“People spending the night under bridges and concrete areas where the cold is gonna be even more intense because it’s concrete,” Gwinn said. “Those type of things can lead to losing digits on your hands, fingers, freezing to death. All kinds of very inhumane things that can happen while trying to rough it outside with no place to go.”
To learn more about these resources you can visit the Love and Care Ministries and the Salvation Army websites.
