The extreme heat can put the homeless at risk and Harvest House Atlantic is opening its doors with extended hours for those who need to keep cool.
Executive Director Cal Maskery says normally in the summer months, they close from 10am until 4pm, but with the extreme temperatures we’re having, they felt it was important to open a “Heat Shelter.”
“Maskery says, “One man came by yesterday, he had crashed on the pavement and hit his nose. I don’t know if it was just heat or what, but he had just fallen. We brought him in and gave him some water to hydrate him. It was at that point, we decided we should open our doors during the day, to give the homeless a place to go.”
He says they normally don’t stay very long, some just stop by to get a drink of water and cool down and recuperate form the heat, and the they are on their way again.
“The heat itself is not so bad, it’s the humidity with it. I can’t remember anytime in the past that we have had to do that, that is was this hot for a whole week.”
Normally, Harvest House sees around 200 people a day between the two meals they offer a day, which are breakfast and supper.
Maskery says “In the winter, we see more permanent people who are staying for weeks at a time to get into a room. In the summer, there are a lot of people who come for a few days and then are gone
again. Our numbers increase, because we then have both those that are travelling and also those who live here permanently.”
