TOPEKA (KSNT) – Suzanne Paslay and John Roberts from Topeka Rescue Mission joined the 27 News morning show Friday to recap warming centers, how they prepare to open them and volunteer opportunities.
Roberts told 27 News that through his organization’s warming centers opening at the end of January, the TRM was able to help about 190 people.
“During that weekend right there at the end of January, we were able to open from a Friday at noon to Monday at noon,” Roberts said. “And were able to get 190 people between us and all of our partner agencies who opened alongside of us to get them out of the elements, get them into some warmth, get them clothes, snacks, food and just keep people safe that weekend.”
Woolly Farms enjoys ice time with the Topeka Scarecrows
Roberts also said the TRM is so thankful for the community support.
“We felt like that was a tremendous success and just so thankful for the community who poured in with donations to support that, and especially all of our volunteers who helped to make that a reality,” Roberts said.
Roberts also pointed out that even when the warning centers are open, TRM’s normal operations remain ongoing.
“I think one of the big things is that as we’re doing the warming centers, that all of our other work at the rescue mission doesn’t stop,” Roberts said. “So we still have our two shelters that operate with about 250 guests every night. We’re still feeding all those folks three times a day, doing community dinner, operating our food pantry and everything else that the rescue mission does. And so this is kind of an additional effort, which is why I really rely so heavily on our volunteers in the community to make it work.”
Paslay talked about TRM volunteer opportunities, which you can find on the TRM website. Roberts also discussed how many volunteers it takes to run warming shelters and all the preparation it takes to get them up and running.
To hear more on what they had to say, you can watch the interview above.
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