BRATTLEBORO-With another month left in the winter season, the Beloved Winter Shelter at 18 Town Crier Drive has successfully carried out its mission as the region’s extreme cold weather shelter.
The shelter’s resources were tested during the three-week cold snap of late January and early February. At one point, said shelter director Cristina Shayonye, they were “open for 26 nights straight when we had been struggling to keep our doors open for just five days a week.
“It takes a great deal of work to shelter so few of our neighbors, but those of us who show up to do the work are providing more than shelter from the cold,” Shayonye wrote in a news release. “What we lack in amenities we make up for in hospitality. We are giving folks who have nowhere to be a place where they can feel like they belong.”
She wrote that many of the shelter’s hosts “have experienced firsthand what it is like to be homeless — what it’s like when there’s not a single place in this world where their presence isn’t questioned, their every move watched, and all that’s expected to be done in the privacy of their own home must be done in public. We take for granted what comes with the roof over our head.”
Beloved Winter Shelter was originally authorized by the Vermont Department of Public Safety to host eight persons per night, but that has since been increased to 12. It will stay at 12 for the remainder of the winter.
“In a Vermont winter, four additional beds make a real difference,” Shayoyne wrote. “More beds mean fewer neighbors turned away into the cold. We are deeply thankful to our town officials, community partners, hosts, and neighbors who made this expansion possible.”
The regularly scheduled open hours are Sunday through Thursday nights from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., with 12 beds available nightly, on first come, first served basis. Those in need are advised to call 802-332-6678 to check availability. Guests are accepted until 6 a.m.
Under the state’s Extreme Cold Weather Shelter Program (ECWSP), when temperatures drop to -10 degrees or below (with windchill) for four consecutive hours, the state activates the Beloved Shelter as an Extreme Cold Weather Shelter, often with just 24 hours notice.
During these activations, the shelter can expand to 15 beds. To find out if ECWSP policies are activated, call 802-332-6678. If activation falls on a weekend when they would otherwise be closed, their voicemail will be updated to reflect that they are open.
Shayonye said the shelter still needs volunteer hosts to staff the shelter, particularly during overnight hours. To sign up, apply, or learn more, email your availability to belovedwintershelter@gmail.com. Folks who want to help out to provide meals should email Lorabookarts@gmail.com or call/text 802-579-8181 for details.
Beloved Winter Shelter is a project of Vermont Village School, a Brattleboro Food Co-op Community Partner. Hosts are eligible to receive a discount at the Co-op for hours worked at the shelter.
Shayonye also said financial donations toward running the nonprofit shelter can be made through its fiscal sponsor Skyberry Collaborative at P.O. Box 360, Brattleboro, VT 05302. Be sure to note it is for Beloved Shelter in the memo line of the check.
This Town and Village item was submitted to The Commons.