A pair of St. Louis charitable organizations, St. Louis Homeless Winter Outreach and Urban City Services, recently teamed up and purchased a school bus to provide crucial services for unhoused area residents this winter. Audra Youmans with Winter Outreach explains that the bus operates every evening, offering people transportation to a local shelter or just a place to warm up.
The warming bus was purchased through a grant from Gateway 180 Homeless Services, filling a gap left after the city discontinued a similar service a few years ago. Since then, volunteers from these organizations had been conducting community outreach using their personal vehicles. Earlier this week, on the first evening the bus was put into service, they helped at least 20 people stay warm or find shelters.
The warming bus will be making its rounds whenever temperatures drop below 25 degrees, and Winter Outreach is also working to open additional shelters across St. Louis. Their efforts address the dangers of cold exposure, which claims the lives of around 700 unhoused individuals annually in the U.S. People using the service have expressed their gratitude for the much-needed support.
Source: NEWS NATION NOW
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