DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — As temperatures plummet across metro Atlanta, Dekalb County has three warming centers open for people to come in from the cold. They opened at 6 a.m. Sunday and will remain open through Tuesday.
Frontline Response International is the nonprofit that’s running the centers, which include its shelter at 2585 Gresham Road.
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“We don’t really wait for people to come find their way to us,” Frontline CEO Terry Tucker told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims. “We have about nine vans scheduled to go out on different routes to pick people and we have an emergency number published that people can call if they need transportation.”
The other locations are St. Vincent de Paul at 2050-C Chamblee Tucker Road in Chamblee and the Exchange Park Intergenerational Center at 2771 Columbia Drive in Decatur.
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Tucker told Channel 2 Action News that everyone seeking help at the warming centers is unhoused.
“They will usually have been out trying to find shelter in other places, under bridges and those things, but the temperatures are just too cold to be able to do that, Tucker said. ”That’s why we try to get to them before any type of hypothermia sets in. Some people think they can make it through the night, and unfortunately, they may not, so we don’t want to take the risk.”
Stephanie Stanley has been staying at the Gresham Road shelter for about two months after she lost her job and her home.
She resorted to spending nights on a sidewalk bench near Grady Memorial Hospital.
“I would sleep there at night and get up, wash up at the airport and work at the airport,” Stanley said. “It’s a hard life, but once I found Frontline, I was able to put the pieces together.”
The shelter and warming centers provide three meals a day.
“Nobody goes hungry at Frontline and that’s the gift of this organization,” Stanley said.
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