For at least one night the Extreme Weather Shelter in Kitimat couldn’t open because of a lack of volunteers.
In the midst of an arctic outflow warning, that could prove dangerous for those without a place to go.
To make sure the shelter, located at the Public Safety Building at the corner of Kingfisher and Haisla Boulevard, keeps going the volunteers through the Kitimat Housing Committee are looking for a larger bank of volunteers.
Trish Parsons, with the housing committee, says that the challenge is finding people to do the overnight shifts since many of their existing volunteers have jobs during the day.
An overnight shift followed by a job in the morning is hard on people, she realizes.
“When you don’t have lots of volunteers you can burn out quickly,” she said.
As of right now they have a list of approximately 15 people.
“We’re still trying to find volunteers to keep it open because the weather has been so bad,” she said.
The shelter was activated on the February 1 weekend, but was closed on February 3 due to lack of available volunteers that day, but it was re-actived on February 4.
The shelter is available to those who need it from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. days it is active.
If you want to volunteer — Parsons said people can offer just to do as little as one shift per month — they can either call her at her work at the Chamber of Commerce at 250-632-6294, or call Warren Waycheshen at the District of Kitimat at 250-632-8900.