One thing all Western Pennsylvania winters have in common is the sometimes-debilitating cold.

What happens, then, if someone has nowhere to keep themselves warm when the weather takes a bitter turn for the worse?

It’s precisely the issue that Glade Run Lutheran Services aims to tackle with the warming center for the homeless they’re set to open Monday. From 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., vulnerable people will be able to find a warm refuge at Calvary Church’s Grace Wellness Center at 123 E. Diamond St., which will remain open through March 31.

“We’re hoping that this warming center is at least a warm place that they can go to and then start to plan their next step, and then access that continuum that we have, whether it’d be short-term residential, temporary housing or transitional housing. There’s lots of different levels on the continuum, but at least this will keep them warm until they find that next step,” said Steven T. Green, president and CEO of Glade Run.

It’s almost unfathomable for those of us fortunate enough to go home to warm beds to think about the possibility of not having shelter on these frigid nights.

The center’s hours flow in tandem with the Grapevine Center on North Elm Street’s winter drop-in hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Staff reported that this is the first year the mental health services center is opening up as a winter warming shelter.

When speaking about the warming center at the Grapevine Center, Scott Winrader, a staff member, that the hours set for the warming center were intentionally planned around the hours of the Glade Run’s warming center.

These are commendable efforts by both organizations to make sure people who need shelter have it as needed. Sometimes, circumstances are truly out of one’s own control. These warming centers are a prime example of Butler’s attitude toward helping those who are struggling to help themselves.

What we would like to point out here though is that there is still a gap. Winrader pointed it out in his interview with the Eagle, and we’d like to point it out again.

The hours of 4:30 to 10 p.m. are not covered.

Could another organization open from 4:30 to 10 p.m. to make certain that shelterless people in Butler can find a safe place from the cold at any time?

— CM