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Warming Centers : Current Activities

Activity Log

• Not activated 3/30-31/08
• Activated 3/28-29, Estate Hotel, Mead Building
• Activated 3/27/08, Estate Hotel, Foursquare Church
• NOT Activated 2/3-3/26
• Activated 2/2
• NOT activated 1/29-2/1
• Activated 1/28
• NOT activated 1/26-27
• Activated 1/24-25
• Activated 1/22 and 1/23 (EWC Update 1/22/08)
  • Phone bank activated: recruiting for today (1/22/08) 8 phone bank volunteers, 3 authorized drivers, 6 logistics workers, plus shift workers for the warming centers to be on standby for the rest of the week.
• Activated 1/20 & 1/21 (Sunday and Monday)
  • See EWC Update for 1/18/08
• Activated 1/17/08 (Thurs)
• See EWC Update for 1/17/08
• Not Activated 1/16/08 (Wed)
  • See EWC Update for 1/16/08
• Activated 1/15/08 (Tues)
  • See EWC Update for 1/15/08
• On Standby 1/14/08 for 1/15-16 (Tues and Wed)
  • See EWC Update for 1/14/08
• Activated 1/7-8/08
  • See EWC Update for 1/7/08
  • See EWC Update for 1/8/08
• On Standby: 1/6/08
  • No activation
• Activated: 12/27/07
  • See EWC Update for 12/27/07 for more info
• On Standby: 12/26-31/07
  • Warming Centers were on Standby over the Christmas holiday, 12/26-31/07.
• On Standby: Tuesday, 12/11
  • Available volunteers are being asked to be on standby for the activation of the Warming Centers due to the current cold weather. See Updates link above for current info.
• Activated: Friday, 11/30-12/2
  click here for details
  • Notice soliciting volunteers for Dec 1-2, 2007

ORIENTATION

An Orientation was held at the Chapter on January 10. If additional orientations are scheduled, the notice will appear on the Calendar.

Background

The City of Portland has asked the American Red Cross Oregon Trail Chapter (OTC) to provide a critically needed service directly tied to our mission and expertise that will serve some of our community's most vulnerable citizens during emergency conditions - Emergency Warming Centers (EWC) for people who are homeless.  Every year in Portland, several people freeze to death because of inadequate sheltering capacity during winter weather.  These EWCs will help to reduce that number and provide comfort during the cold weather.

During the winter, OTC will continue to solicit volunteers to staff these Emergency Warming Centers. Volunteers will perform a variety of functions such as setting up and demobilizing the emergency warming center, greeting guests, providing orientation to the facilities, chatting with guests and monitoring the sleep/rest area, and serving warm beverages.

EWCs will open with temperatures at 25 degrees (clear) and 35 degrees (wind and/or rain).  We estimate that we will open the warming centers 10 to 20 times between now and the end of February.  We will staff two-three locations in Portland and each night will have three shifts:

• Shift 1: 7:00 pm - 10:30 pm
• Shift 2: 10:00 pm - 5:30 am
• Shift 3: 5:00am - 8:30am (for cleanup)

The EWCs have an open door policy; therefore, volunteers can anticipate little or no sleep during their shift. Volunteers must be comfortable in interacting with the homeless population within an emergency warming center setting.

If you have experience working with people who are homeless, we are also looking for team leaders.  The team leaders will serve as resources for the rest of the volunteers and might be called upon to manage complex situations that less experienced volunteers may not be able to handle.

To assist with this program, contact Emergency Services at 503-528-5699 at the Oregon Trail Chapter.

Thank you for you support.