BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Western New York Coalition for the Homeless announced its plans for the winter season. They are expanding to The Salvation Army.
Located at 950 Main St., The Salvation Army will serve as another overnight warming shelter.
"Code Blue is the one people look to. We're the ones that they depend on. If people just happen to show up, we can't transport them to another location if it's like the blizzard we had," says Nadia Pizzaro, co-chair of the Code Blue Collaborative.
As they learned from last year's blizzard, the shelter became packed, and resources were limited. But with more space comes the need for more funding from the city and donations from You.
"Having two sites, there's also another component, so the need for funding increased. It went from 10 to 20 people a night in 2009. Now we're serving 130 to 150 people a night. That costs money," Pizarro said.
You can drop off donations at the Restoration Center. It's located at 586 Genesee St. They're looking for clothes, blankets, and food. They also need generators if the power goes out.
Wane Barnes is Code Blue's coordinator. He used to be a part of Code Blue before working for The City Mission. Now that he's back, he has a few changes in mind. The biggest includes not searching for belongings.
"When folks come in, they don't want people touching their property. That's intrusion. And we're smart enough to understand because the way you live and the way we live is two different things," Barnes said. "But the kicker is for you to understand, and that's why I say everything has to be an understanding."
If things get too rowdy, Pizaaro says the warming center can handle it.
"We have several different layers in dealing with our folks because we have a lot of different behavioral issues. We listen to people; we identify what their issues are. We de-escalate when necessary," Pizarro said.