By Casey Chaffin and Ellen Clarke

As winter weather conditions have become more severe in the past few years, the need for emergency shelter has increased. Warming shelters are a crucial resource for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, as freezing temperatures can be deadly.

During the winter, warming shelters are available at night when the temperature dips below certain thresholds determined by the county. Multnomah County Emergency Management provides materials and transportation to people seeking shelter.

These shelters are a refuge for housed and unhoused people along with their pets. Spaces provide a sleeping area, dining area, bathrooms, hygiene and medical supplies. County staff and volunteers work to make everyone comfortable. 

Become a Warming Shelter Volunteer

Getting connected and trained as a volunteer, ahead of inclement weather, can make the opening of shelters once the next ice storm hits more efficient. 

Trainings are available via live Zoom sessions or prerecorded videos. Shelter volunteer training includes a general information session as well as sessions on: bloodborne pathogens, Narcan administration, and trauma-informed tips (recommended for volunteers without experience working in shelter settings). 

Multnomah County has a schedule of upcoming live trainings and links to asynchronous training materials on their website. People interested in volunteering can reach out to ESF6.MassCare@multco.us to get added to the mailing list of available volunteer opportunities.

What It’s Like to Volunteer

Lydia has been volunteering at warming shelters for the past three years. She lives walking distance from a site and works in the nonprofit field with housing insecure and unhoused people. When she saw the call for shelter volunteers, she felt compelled to sign up. 

“These are my neighbors. That’s how I see it,” she said. “And this is what you do for your neighbors.”

There are several roles available to people who volunteer at warming shelters: checking in guests, handing out food and hot beverages, distributing clothing, hygiene, and first aid supplies, monitoring restrooms, and helping set-up and clean-up the shelter space. Volunteer shifts are usually 4 hours. 

Lydia typically volunteers at the hot beverages station. She says this role in particular helps her provide a dignified experience to shelter guests. She asks for people’s names and makes sure they get their coffee the way they like it. 

“I think this is so important because I’m extending dignity to you – offering you my name, and asking for yours. I’m making us equals,” she said. “I can tell they don’t get that from other people and places, and that means something to me.”

Volunteering at a warming shelter can be hectic – it’s a disaster response activity, after all. And guests are often dealing with many challenges, in addition to trying to survive the winter weather. Many guests live with physical disabilities and behavioral health challenges – so volunteers with experience working with these populations are often needed. But the most important quality in a volunteer is a desire to support others and meet people where they are. 

“I keep going back because it’s what you do for each other and because the people are wonderful,” Lydia said.