photo by: Bremen Keasey

The First United Methodist Church of Lawrence, at 946 Vermont St. The church is one of four sites designated as an overflow shelter in the city that can open during extreme weather events.

With winter weather approaching in Lawrence, organizers and volunteers working with the Extreme Weather Emergency Shelter Plan are confident that they will be able to provide enough shelter for those who need it this season.

As the Journal-World has reported, the City of Lawrence and Douglas County outlined a plan earlier this year that would provide additional shelter during extreme weather events. The plan will be activated when there is severe weather in the forecast, such as when the National Weather Service issues cold advisories or winter storm warnings.

The plan involves opening four local churches — University Community of Christ, First United Methodist Church, Jesus Community Church of the Nazarene and Lawrence First Church — to accommodate extra people when the Lawrence Community Shelter fills up. The Lawrence Community Shelter has a regular capacity of 140 beds at its location at 3655 E. 25th St., according to Cori Wallace, a spokesperson for the city. Once it is at capacity, the four churches, which can serve 25 guests each, will open as well.

Wallace said guests can stay on-site during the day while temperatures remain below 40 degrees. Any of the emergency shelters that operate overnight will run from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.

John Krehbiel, a volunteer at First United Methodist Church, has been involved in every winter emergency sheltering effort since the first one in 2019-2020. Before that winter, Krehbiel said budget cuts to the Lawrence Community Shelter shrunk its capacity from 125 people to 65 people, as the Journal-World reported at the time. With a potentially “stark situation” coming that winter, Krehbiel said the church opened up part of its building for use as a shelter, and he has been involved with the sheltering effort ever since.

Last winter, Krehbiel said the sudden Arctic blasts around the end of January drove more unhoused people to seek shelter. That scramble to find overflow space led to the city opening up the Amtrak station and First United Methodist opening its doors again, and it also led to the development of the Emergency Shelter Plan after organizers decided they needed to plan further ahead.

“We put forth a plan around overflow for if and/or when this happens again,” Krehbiel said.

If there is an overflow this winter, Krehbiel, who also serves on the board for the Lawrence Community Shelter, said he’s confident the Emergency Shelter Plan will be able to handle it. He also said that through the city-county plan to end chronic homelessness, “A Place for Everyone,” the city has been successful in housing around 120 people, so there may not be as much burden on emergency sheltering resources as there would have been otherwise.

Wallace said the collaborative work on the Emergency Shelter Plan is a “powerful reflection” of the community’s desire to keep vulnerable people safe during the winter.

“Sheltering needs during the winter months expand, and the work and kindness of these community partners is one way we work together to keep vulnerable people alive,” Wallace said.

Krehbiel said that in his five years of working to provide emergency shelter, the work hasn’t always been easy, but that the community has always worked to protect its unhoused during a dangerous time of the year.

“One way or another, Lawrence has stepped up to the plate,” Krehbiel said.