photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Lawrence's Santa Fe train depot at Seventh and New Jersey streets is pictured Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023.

UPDATED 2:30 P.M., Jan. 12, 2024

The Santa Fe train depot will serve as a 24-hour winter shelter through the duration of the freezing weather currently affecting Lawrence, and the city’s seeking volunteers to staff it appropriately.

The City of Lawrence announced the move Friday morning, after opening the depot at Seventh and New Jersey streets overnight Thursday as an overflow shelter to help people once the Lawrence Community Shelter had reached its maximum capacity of 140. The depot can accommodate 40 people, and walk-ins will be accepted.

City spokesperson Cori Wallace told the Journal-World Friday afternoon that Amtrak service will be uninterrupted while the depot is being used as a winter shelter. As it stands, the train departs from the Lawrence station heading east at roughly 5 a.m. each morning and arrives on its return trip back west around midnight, depending on whether the train’s running on time. The station is opened by volunteer caretakers ahead of both arrivals. Wallace said individuals using the depot as a winter shelter are sheltering in the far eastern room of the station, while there is a separate area reserved for Amtrak passengers waiting on a train. Restrooms in the building will be shared between both groups.

The city is asking for volunteers to sign up to serve four-hour or eight-hour shifts at the depot through the United Way website. In addition to those volunteers, the depot will continue to be staffed by City of Lawrence employees who typically work at Camp New Beginnings, the city-sanctioned homeless camp in North Lawrence.

While guests at the Santa Fe depot don’t need to be referred by LCS first, another sheltering option set to remain open for the next week will require referrals. First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St., also opened a volunteer-run winter emergency shelter Thursday evening, which can accommodate up to 25 people. The church will accept LCS referrals only, once LCS reaches capacity, and will continue to operate through Saturday, Jan. 20.

As the Journal-World reported, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center is also facilitating sheltering assistance for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness who can’t shelter at LCS. Thanks to Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services funding, Bert Nash’s Homeless Outreach Team is providing hotel rooms to such individuals.

The city is once again asking those who need help or know someone who needs help finding or getting transportation to indoor shelter to contact Homeless Programs Coordinator Misty Bosch-Hastings at 785-760-1481 or Homeless Programs Project Specialist Cicely Thornton at 785-813-9483 for assistance.