One of the few overnight warming centers in Bangor will not be opening this winter, according to the shelter’s director.
The Bangor Area Homeless Shelter will discontinue its warming center to focus on adding more shelter beds, according to director Boyd Kronholm. He said he expects to be able to add five beds this winter, and that the organization will still make warming space available in extreme weather conditions and emergencies.
“It’s pretty staff-intensive” to keep a warming center open, Kronholm said, and in recent years, “we noticed we had empty beds and we had a full warming center.”
The shelter decided it made more sense to try and serve those warming center visitors through providing shelter beds, rather than adding extra staff to operate the warming center, which Kronholm estimated served about 20 to 25 people per night last year.
The change may put more strain on the city’s other overnight warming centers, which provide a place for homeless people to go in the coldest months of the year and can also offer hot meals and winter clothes to help protect people from the elements.
The shelter, located on Bangor’s Main Street, has 38 shelter beds year-round and offers a day program from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., which Kronholm confirmed would still be open this winter.
“I don’t believe there’ll ever be enough places for people to go when it gets cold overnight,” Kronholm said.
Staff from the two remaining overnight warming centers in Bangor said they expected the change to put more of a strain on their services.
“As far as capacity, we’re pretty darn close, so I don’t know what’s going to happen this year,” said Leon Licata, pastor of the Brick Church on Union Street.
The church’s warming center will open on Nov. 15 from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. nightly. Licata said it averaged around 60 visitors per night last winter.
He said he expects the center will hit 70 visitors per night this year, but “there’s no way we can manage any more than that.”
The Mansion Church on Center Street will also continue to offer a warming center this year with a capacity of around 30 people, according to Terry Dinkins, the church’s pastor. The center will begin operating Nov. 1 and stay open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. nightly, he said.
Dinkins said he thinks demand for warming center space may be even greater this year, noting that he’s observed a lot of new people this year using the church’s other homeless services.
The Mansion Church is working on expanding its basement to add more capacity, Dinkins said. He’s hopeful that this project will be finished by this winter.
Both warming centers need overnight volunteers to run, and Dinkins noted that expanding capacity would also require the church to add more volunteers.
