KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Snow and ice covered Knoxville in a thick glaze for several days after a winter storm. For the last week, people have been running away from the frigid cold.
Except for some who may not have a safe place to sleep and are struggling with homelessness. Erin Read from the Knoxville-Knox County Office of Housing Stability told WBIR that warming centers were over capacity almost every single day during the height of the winter storm.
"I reached out to about two dozen churches, I tried to focus on large churches that were within those hotspots for homeless encampment complaints. And I have to say, every single church responded. Every single church wanted to help," Read said. "Some made monetary donations, some agreed to engage volunteers within their congregation. Many, many of them wanted to help but had constraints, like some of them have daycares in their facility and the only large space in their facilities and use all day every day for daycare. So I felt like the response from churches was wonderful."
Warming sites faced some huge challenges due to the amount of snow and ice, Read said. Many of their volunteers also had trouble making their shifts. They had to work with fewer volunteers than they had initially planned, Read said, and every single warming center site was way over capacity.
"Vestal United Methodist agreed to take 40. They consistently had 60, almost every night," Read said. "Magnolia Avenue United Methodist agreed to take 80. They consistently had between 100 and 50. Every night Cokesbury Church said that they could take 20. They consistently had 30, every night. The Salvation Army opened up as an overflow facility. And on our very busiest night, we had just over 100."
Locals compare this storm with the Blizzard of 1993, but it was historically worse. Last week was a battle between people and nature, all while members of the Knoxville community rallied to help.
Eric Johnson, the South Knox Community Resource Coordinator and leader of the Vestal United Methodist Church, said volunteers were helping with food, beverages and comfort, while some lent a friendly listening ear at the warming center.
"Sunday, before the storm hit on that Monday, we had over 25 cars lined up at the Vestal United Methodist Church offering blankets, food," Johnson said. "Simply put, it's the weather. It created obstacles for people to bring things for people to get here as volunteers."
Like every battle, this one came with its own cost. But, the star was the community which rallied to help.
"For city and county, both significant costs have been incurred around the weather just for water main breaks, and infrastructure issues. Nobody has those final numbers yet. There were some costs incurred by city and county for the warming centers," Read said. "But I have to say the warming centers were staffed by volunteers. Most of the blankets you see behind me were donations from the community."
People took the risk to help others during this frigid cold.
Read said there are a few things she wants to do differently next time, and she will continue to knock on churches' doors to prepare for the next emergency.
"The biggest lesson learned is that when very dangerous cold weather occurs, we are going to need a lot more capacity than we initially thought," Read said. "Just for the sheer number of people. Some of the other lessons learned are that we need to make sure we have volunteers for the cleanup. So if anyone wants to volunteer, please email me."
Anyone who wants to volunteer can email the Office of Housing Stability at office@knoxtnhousing.org.