Warming centers open in Lexington as Catholic Action Center helps hundreds escape dangerous cold
LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW) — As bitterly cold temperatures grip Central Kentucky following snow and ice, community advocates in Lexington are working around the clock to make sure people experiencing homelessness have a safe and warm place to go.
The Catholic Action Center has opened its Mother Teresa Shelter as a warming center, offering immediate relief for people with nowhere else to turn during the storm.
Ginny Ramsey with the Catholic Action Center says the shelter is being used as both a warming center and a processing hub to help place people into longer-term safe housing during the cold snap.
“We’ve opened the Mother Teresa Shelter as a processing center and a warming center for people who are homeless with no place to go,” Ramsey said. “We’ve had over 70 folks come through that we’ve been able to get placed for the next 10 days.”
Beyond the shelter itself, Ramsey says the organization is now housing more than 150 people in local motels to keep them out of life-threatening conditions.
“We have 153 people right now that are sheltered — not in shelters, but in motels — in order to keep them from freezing on the streets,” she said.
Ramsey added that every shelter in the area is currently full, leaving some of the most vulnerable members of the community at serious risk — including elderly individuals who had been living in their cars.
“The most heartbreaking is to see our elderly who have been living in their cars,” Ramsey said. “We’ve had about 12 folks in their mid-70s to 80s who were living in their vehicles.”
The Mother Teresa Shelter is expected to remain open as a warming center through at least noon Tuesday, with support coming from Lexington police, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office and outreach teams from the Hope Center.
But Ramsey says the storm has created an enormous demand for resources — from hotel rooms to hundreds of additional meals each day.
“We anticipate that between 170 and 180 people will be in rooms,” she said. “That’s in addition to what we normally do, so we’re talking about another 350 to 400 meals a day.”
The financial strain is already growing quickly.
“We’ve already committed about $80,000 in costs,” Ramsey said. “We’ve been able to keep people safe — now we need to feed them and pay for the rooms for the next 10 days.”
Ramsey says community support is critical right now, adding that no one should be left in dangerous cold conditions during a storm like this.
Donations to support warming efforts can be made through the Catholic Action Center’s website. Click HERE.
