Glade Run warming center to open Monday in Butler
Glade Run’s winter warming center, opening for the season Monday, Nov. 3, will open two hours earlier each night than in previous years.
Glade Run CEO Steven Green said the organization’s fundraising and additional funding from Butler County Human Services enabled it to open the warming center at 8 p.m. each night instead of 10 p.m.
“We decided to extend our hours a little bit because there’s just not a lot of places for unhoused people to go to get warm,” Green said.
The hours were also extended because people would get there early in previous years, he said.
The warming center is at Grace Community Wellness Center, 123 E. Diamond St., and can hold about 16 to 18 unhoused people, Green said. He said it’s located in the big church on Diamond Street with the entrance around the back off McKean Street.
In the mornings, case workers from the Center for Community Resources and Catholic Charities will provide resources and help connect guests with permanent housing.
“They do such a good job that we don’t reach those numbers,” Green said.
The warming center also offers snacks, water, showers and laundry services until it closes at 8 a.m.
The winter warming center requires a voucher from the Center for Community Resources and Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities can be contacted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 724-287-4011, and the Center for Community Resources can be contacted at 1-800-292-3866 after hours and on weekends and holidays.
Green said this will be the warming center’s fourth year in operation. Last year, it temporarily housed 88 people with an average stay of about 15 nights. The number of unhoused people the warming center serves has fluctuated between about 70 and 100 people, according to Green’s records.
“(It) just gives them the opportunity to catch their breath and be in a safe, warm place while they find the services they need,” Green said.
The warming center is slated to close after March 31.
