The Press headline article that ran October 25, 2011 titled “Left Out in the Cold” by reporter Tom Hasslinger really bothered me. I felt it was a little misleading especially with the first sentence “A financial shortfall will prevent St. Vincent de Paul from opening its Coeur d'Alene warming shelter this winter”. The Press has always been good to me and I’ve been able to get the stories out when we needed too but I feel this last one missed the mark. Fortunately it’s my relationship with the Press that allows me to write this.
Let me start by saying St Vincent DePaul North Idaho is NOT closing our Warming Center. We are consolidating our 15 bed center in Coeur d’Alene with our 60 bed center in Post Falls where it is bigger, will sleep more, provide more services and have a bigger kitchen to serve from. We will be bussing people from Coeur d’Alene and the outlying areas in and then back in the morning. When the temperature falls below 20 degrees we will w ...
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The Shelter will be located at 202 W. 7th Street in Post Falls, behind the Post Falls St Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, in the Kamps Apartment Complex.
The Center will be active between Nov. 1-Feb 28.
St Vincent de Paul North Idaho is committed to providing a warming center for homeless individuals during bouts of extreme cold this winter. “We are pleased to offer this necessary service to help some of the most vulnerable people during harsh weather," says executive director, Jeff Conroy. “In planning for the harsh weather we must consider the homeless and their safety."
The warming center will be open when temperatures are predicted to fall below 20 degree temperatures. St Vincent’s shelter will be open from 6:00pm-7:00am between Nov. 1, 2011 and February 28, 2012. St Vincent de Paul is able to shelter 60 individuals and will have available sleeping bags, blankets, gloves, stocking caps, coats, a full bathroom, warm food and drinks. The Center is not set up for regular housing.
A huge " ...
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