• City of Des Moines Partners With Joppa, CISS to Create Extreme Weather Emergency Plan

    Weather conditions are expected to get even worse over the next 48 hours. Yesterday, Mayor Frank Cownie called Central Iowa Shelter and Joppa to create an “Extreme Weather Emergency Plan” to help people living outdoors come inside through next weekend.

    Extreme Weather Emergency Plan:

    1. Joppa is encouraging use of its “Homeless Hotline” (515-288-5699), which forwards to staff cell phones to reach someone immediately.
    2. Central Iowa Shelter & Services is providing a “ultra low-barrier” emergency shelter room, so almost everyone can come and stay through next weekend.
    3. We’re putting the word out to people living outside that they can—and should—come in and can bring an extra tote of their belongings.
    4. We’re probing to overcome any obstacles, such as reassuring people that we’ll replace any camping equipment (winter tents, sleeping bags, heaters, blankets, etc.) they might lose because of coming inside.
    5. DART is providing a 15-passenger van so volunteers can provide transportation.
    6. We’re helping people gather and move their belongings to and from this emergency shelter.
    7. We’re making special arrangements for people who can’t come in the shelter, such as Rita and her three dogs (i.e. her “children”).
    8. We’ve updated our online store with the specific types of winter shelters and heaters we need to replace equipment and help people survive the remainder of winter.
    9. The media has been contacted and is helping to get the word out about how people can help.
    10. Joppa is soliciting additional volunteer help on New Year’s Day and next weekend to help people set their winter camps back up.

    Timeline of Emergency Plan:

    • Dec. 30: Winter Heat Teams checked on people, informed them of new shelter options, encouraged them to come inside and began offering transportation to CISS.
    • Dec. 31: Weekly Outreach Teams will check on people, encourage them to accept the offer to come inside for the rest of this week, and coordinate with the DART vans to get people inside today.
    • Jan. 1: Winter Heat Teams will check again on those remaining outdoors, with same offer to come in and provide extra fuel for those who—for whatever reasons—can’t or won’t leave their camps.
    • This coming week: Volunteers are needed to hang out with people at the emergency shelter and help out as needed. We want to serve popcorn, show movies, discuss permanent housing and grow our relationships.
    • Next weekend: Volunteers are needed to help move people back, set up and reinforce their camps to survive the remainder of winter or until they can otherwise get back into housing or temporary shelter.

    Three Ways to Help:

    1. Volunteer: Sign up if you’re available tomorrow, on New Year’s Day, or next Saturday to help during this cold snap.
    2. Supply: Buy specific items we need at our “Winter Survival Store” and we’ll deliver them to those most in need.
    3. Make a gift: Donate to help develop fundamental solutions to homelessness and help people gain employment, overcome barriers and get back into housing.

    In the News:

    Read more in the Des Moines Register.
    Watch the KCCI TV-8 News Story.

  • Contribute
 
WordPress SEO fine-tune by Meta SEO Pack from Poradnik Webmastera