DAYTONA BEACH — As Randy Gerboth waited on his bus to take him to a cold-weather shelter Wednesday evening, he lay inside a warm sleeping bag on the sidewalk next to a wooden fence.
He used a flannel jacket as a pillow.
The sun was about to go down and a chilly wind had begun blowing. A grateful Gerboth, 60, poked his head out and smiled.
"I got all kinds of warm stuff," he said. "I've been with the shelter for a long time and they've helped me a lot."
Temperatures were expected to dip below freezing Thursday with a wind-chill around 24 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The lows for Thursday night and early Friday morning are expected to approach freezing.
Halifax Urban Ministries, known as HUM, was busing homeless people to a couple of Port Orange churches Wednesday. United Methodist was offering 35 beds and Victoria's Life was offering 15. More churches were offering beds Thursday night, including the Church of the Epiphany in Port Orange and the Church of Holy Child in Ormond Beach, according to HUM.
Melissa Phelps, a HUM administrator, said turning away people when it gets this cold is especially difficult.
"They're my homies," she said. "I love them. ... I wish there was more for them here."
The "safe zone," a designated tent city on Clyde Morris Boulevard, was stocked with sleeping bags, blankets, coats and food. People dropped off supplies and snacks to those who live there. Most of them were content waiting out the cold weather in their tents.
They weren't looking forward to it, but they knew they had enough warm clothes and blankets to make it through.
"Oh man, we have plenty of blankets," said James Monroe, 61. "We have tarps over our tents. We're dressing warm and getting covered up. It's the only way we can do it. We can't make fires in our tents."
Many of those in the safe zone are from northern states. They've lived in notoriously snowy places such as upstate New York and the upper Midwest, so a couple of nights in the low 30s won't be so unbearable, they said.
"It just can't get any worse than where I came from," said Carol Dagen, 48, who is originally from Illinois.
Monroe said people bring donuts and coffee and even cook hot meals in front of them. Outreach is even more common when the weather gets colder, Monroe said.
"Our cup runneth over," he said. "We've been so blessed."
Another who felt blessed Wednesday was Mike Hanley, who has already spent a number of cold, wet nights on the streets in Daytona Beach. The night before Thanksgiving was a miserable one for him. He was forced to sleep inside a damp sleeping bag. On Wednesday, he was looking forward to that bus ride to a warm church.
"I'm very grateful for this," Hanley said. "It's a major help."