As temperatures plummeted across Volusia and Flagler counties on Wednesday, concerns grew about the safety and welfare of the area’s homeless population and others who might need shelter from the hours of below freezing temperatures forecast over the next three nights.
Several non-profits, churches and some area officials scrambled to find blankets, cots and supplies to open shelters against the cold.
Sue Ellen Jackson, executive director of Halifax Urban Ministries, a non-profit that provides services to the homeless, was among those with grave concerns Wednesday that the need would outweigh the supply.
The cots the organization's shelter was providing in Daytona Beach were spoken for by lunchtime, Jackson said. “Our 45 beds are just a drop in the bucket,” she said. “It’s not enough.”
"We're still trying to work out other possibilities," said Jackson. "These folks, they're people, they're somebody's son or uncle or nephew. They matter," she said. "It's just frustrating for us because we want to help."
Early Wednesday, it wasn’t clear where or when shelters would open in locations across the county. However, by mid-afternoon, shelter openings were announced in Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange, Bunnell, DeLand and Deltona.
One local homeless man, Bob Minnie of Daytona Beach, didn't plan to be among those taking advantage of the shelters.
Minnie planned to brave the freezing temperatures under the camper top on his small pickup, where he sleeps on the nights when he can't afford to stay in a hotel. He said he would share the space with a friend and plenty of blankets.
Neither of them liked shelters, he said. “I don’t like other people around me,” he said. "The place is almost like being in jail."
In Bunnell, Flagler County's only cold weather shelter, at First United Methodist Church, opened for its third straight day Wednesday, opening earlier than planned because of the frigid rain.
“I made soup for them and made coffee,” said volunteer Vicky Le Tellier. “I don’t want them to freeze. I really care about these people. We all do. They’re important to us.”
Volunteers staff the shelter, which serves supper and breakfast, in teams and rotate as the need arises. In addition to providing a warm place to stay the night, the shelter sees to other needs, such as food and clothing," Le Tellier said.
In Volusia County, officials worked to help coordinate activities for several shelter openings, including in Daytona Beach, DeLand and Deltona, providing cots and water and coordinating with the Red Cross to provide blankets, snacks and other comfort items, said Jim Judge, the County’s emergency management director. Votran buses provided transportation for those who planned to stay in the Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach shelters.
In DeLand, the city and the county worked with St. Peter Catholic Church, which opened a shelter for 30 to 35 people, said city spokesman Chris Graham.
“This has been more of a coordinated effort because we are expecting very cold weather — for Florida — and everyone wanted a safe, warm place for people to stay,” Graham said. The city worked with the county to arrange transportation, and with area churches to provide blankets and pillows.
Deltona City Commissioner Chris Nabicht, concerned about sheltering in West Volusia, questioned Wednesday why the county wasn't opening shelters.
While county governments in Volusia and Flagler counties work with school systems in the two counties to shelter thousands during hurricanes, cold weather sheltering is more of a volunteer operation, relying on area non-profits and social service organizations, said officials in both counties.
“We want to be in a support role to the social service agencies that provide these types of services in our community," Judge said. "I would say it’s been a real team effort."
Volusia County officials talked with more than a dozen of the 21 counties in the region this week, and none of those counties were going to open shelters, Judge said. “They all refer to non-profit organizations and they support those organizations.”
But Nabicht said the city of Deltona asked the county to open a shelter.
Judge said his staff explained how cold weather sheltering works and offered to assist if the city opened a shelter.
Nabicht said he wasn’t happy with that response. Opening a shelter is “not a function of city government," he said. "It’s a function of the county government,."
"This is an urgent circumstance, and whether they are in Deltona, or Osteen or Orange City, we as leaders on the west side of the county feel there is a need to open up a center that is prepared to be a shelter and not just dump it on a church, which is not designed for people to sleep in,” Nabicht said.
Ultimately Wednesday, Deltona Lakes Baptist Church, whose pastor Fred Lowry is a Volusia County Councilman, opened its doors as a shelter.
“It seems like there’s just a need there,” Lowry said. “I’m just trying to solve a need right now."
"We can put a lot of people in there,” he said.
The county delivered 30 cots and 10 cases of water to the church, Judge said, and coordinated with the Red Cross for additional items. The Volusia County Sheriff’s office provided security.
Lowry said he plans to seek more information about cold weather shelter openings during a future council meeting, perhaps even at Thursday’s meeting.
"Hopefully sometime in the future we can address this and what’s going on,” Lowry said.
In Southeast Volusia, the southeast division of the Urban Ministries opened a shelter in collaboration with United Church of Christ, First United Methodist, and Edgewater Alliance Church.
Selma Barker, a board member and volunteer, helped to gather supplies. Participants would be sleeping on mats, but she said they planned to accommodate as many people as they could
Staff writers Dustin Wyatt and Shaun Ryan contributed to this report.