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Volunteers say Springfield warming center kept people alive during severe winter; commissioners urge planning
Summary
Organizers and volunteers described an impromptu 90-day warming center that operated this winter, serving up to about 60 people nightly and reporting no deaths from exposure; commissioners pressed for planning, case management and continued city-staff coordination.
Ken Baron Selig, a local pastor who runs a street ministry tied to Liberty Disaster Relief, told the Springfield City Commission on the work-session agenda that he and volunteers opened a warming center on Dec. 2 and kept it operating for 90 days this winter.
“The most important number that I'm gonna say here tonight is 0,” Ken Baron Selig said, referring to the number of people who died of exposure in Springfield while the center operated. “Because of that warming center, the volunteers ... 0 people died of exposure in spring.”
Selig said the center operated from a gymnasium loaned by Victory Bay at 424 North Fountain and that his wife and volunteers initially funded the operation. He described the effort as “organic,” open to anyone who said they were hungry or cold, and limited inside only by a single rule: “Be nice.” He estimated the center served as many as 60 people on some nights and said staff and volunteers…
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