GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- While most people in West Michigan are staying inside their homes to avoid the brutal cold, not everyone has that option.
Daytime shelters like Degage Ministries have been at capacity trying to help people get a break from the cold. They are opening their doors with extended hours.
Normally they close down for a couple hours midday, but because of the extreme weather they are letting people stay the entire time they're open from 7:00 am to 7:30 pm.
“Everybody needs a place to be and we’re just glad that we’re here. We are not closing to clean because we don’t want to kick anybody out in weather like this,” says Marge Palmerlee, the executive director at Degage Ministries.
Degage offers a warm place to stay, some food to eat and some hot drinks: things that many people are grateful for.
“This place is a diamond in the rough. It’s extra cold out if it wasn’t for this place I don’t know where we’d go,” says Albert Dean, a Grand Rapids resident.
Degage will continue the extended hours until the frigid winter weather goes away. They are also in need of gloves and asking for people to drop off a pair if they have any to donate.
