GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Dégagé and Mel Trotter Ministries both declared Code Blue in response to extreme cold temperatures this week. They’ve opened up their overflow spaces to give more people a place to keep warm.
“When the temperatures get like this, we go into what we call Code Blue, which means that we want everyone to come outside, come inside, regardless of whether they've been suspended from our shelters, regardless if there's any kind of reason for them normally not to enter,” says Dégagé Executive Director Thelma Ensink. “We lift our curfews so that even if somebody wants to come in after curfew, we make sure that they get inside. We don't want anyone to be on the streets today.”
Dégagé tells us its main shelter reached capacity Monday. Despite it being MLK Day, they also opened the The Vault, their new community center jointly run by Mel Trotter.
We’re told Mel Trotter’s overflow space can hold 50 more people and as many as 90 more overnight. Nearly 550 people stayed at Mel Trotter Sunday night, and at least as many are expected to stay there Monday night. Full capacity is up to 650 beds.
Mel Trotter’s outreach staff says they are out and about looking for people who are experiencing homelessness so they can lend them a hand.
“We are sending teams out from our outreach team every day while we have this cold snap to really look for those who are out,” says Jeff Dashner with Mel Trotter. “Invite them in, and if they choose not to, we're going to honor that, but we're also going to provide them with some survival gear for the winter, hot hands, sleeping bags, maybe a tent, if that's what's needed, as well as other resources just to make it survivable out there during these bitter, bitter temperatures.”
Mel Trotter’s warming shelter is open seven days a week from 8 a.m.–7 p.m.
The Vault runs from 8 a.m.–3 p.m. throughout the week.
Muskegon
Warming shelters to open in West Michigan amid freezing weather
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