“Oh God, Let us not be rich while they are destitute, nor be in good health if we do not tend to their wounds, nor have enough food or covering, nor rest under a roof, if we do not offer bread to them, and give them something to wear and a shelter to stay in, as far as we are able!” – Gregory of Nazianzus
On a frigid night in early January, an un-housed man named James “Jimmy” Fulmer froze to death on the steps of an East Nashville church. The temperature was 25 degrees. Jimmy and the crutches he used were visible from the road. All he had was one blanket wrapped around his shivering body that another un-housed man bought for him. A week later, advocates held a public funeral procession decrying his death and the lack of affordable housing. A couple years before, an un-housed man named Carl froze to death just off Main Street. He was also visible from the road and no one stopped to see if he was okay.
Every year in Nashville, one to four people freeze to death on our streets and countless others get frostbite and hypothermia. In a city with a new $600 million dollar convention center and new luxury condos and high-end restaurants sprouting up in every direction, we don’t have enough shelter and transitional housing beds for everyone who needs them. There are also hundreds of people who can’t get into traditional shelters like the Mission or Room in the Inn—people who have pets, couples and spouses trying to stay together, people who have been banned from services, and people who can’t handle crowded, structured environments, most often due to mental health issues.
For the last three years, our sister organization Open Table Nashville has filled this gap by opening Emergency Warming Shelters when the temperature drops below 25 degrees. For our friends, this is a matter of life and death. The people we bring in are often some of the most medically vulnerable and it will take ALL of us—as a city, as service providers, and as people of conscience and faith—to make sure that what happened to Jimmy, Carl, and others never happens again; to make sure that no one feels so hopeless and alone that they give up and let the cold overtake them. While we are opening these emergency shelters, we are also advocating for more affordable and accessible housing because the lack of affordable housing is one of the root causes of homelessness.
In order to ensure that no one else freezes on our streets, we need help. Please, please spread the word to everyone you know asking them to chip in and help in whatever way they can. We cannot enjoy the warmth of our own homes without responding to the dire needs of our brothers and sisters who too often shiver and suffer in silence in our own back yards. Our liberation is bound up together.
Here are some ways YOU can help:
Locations (email lindsey@opentablenashville.org if we can use your site!):
We currently open a combination of any of the following congregations (depending on which ones are available any given night), but we are in need of other locations that can accommodate 30-50 people: Hillcrest United Methodist Church, Barth Vernon United Methodist Church, Green Street Church of Christ, and First Church of the Nazarene. We will fully staff the sites, we just need warm, available buildings!
Volunteer roles (email regina@opentablenashville.org to get plugged in):
*Inn Keepers (spend the night with another volunteer, 8pm-7:30am)
- Evening/Morning Transportation (drive a van to pick up our friend around 5:30pm and/or take them back downtown around 7am)
- Kitchen Coordinator (make sure coffee is going and food is heated, set out, 5:30pm-8pm)
- Laundry (someone to pick up the laundry in the morning & wash it for the next day’s shelter)
- Sign-In Table (greet our friends when they come to the shelter 5:30-7:30pm)
- Set Up Team (5pm) and Clean Up Team (6:30am)
- Floater Volunteers (anytime between 5pm and 7:30am to help fill in the gaps)
- Canvassing (driving around downtown and East Nashville to look for people who desperately need to come in, 6:30-8:30)
Donations (every little bit helps!). You can drop these items off at Metro Social Services at 800 2nd Ave. North in the Homeless Services Office Monday-Friday during business hours or contact lauren@opentablenashville.org:
- Sleeping bags, blankets, towels, twin sheets, air mattresses (can be gently used!)
- Hand warmers, hats, heavy duty gloves, thermal underwear, coats & scarves.
- Coffee, creamer, sugar
- Paper products (coffee cups, paper towels, paper bowls, paper plates, napkins, utensils)
- Cleaning supplies (Clorox Wipes, Lysol spray, Dish Detergent)
- Extra dinner and breakfast food (preferably food that can be stored for flexible usage)
