THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE ARTICLE BY JANA WIERSEMA
ABOVE: The Dwelling Place’s day center is located in the basement of First Presbyterian Church in Danville.
DANVILLE — Every year, when temperatures dip to about zero degrees Fahrenheit or poor weather is otherwise expected, Dale Wilt and his wife, Margaret, put together care packages with various items they’ve gathered — hand warmers, gloves, hats, personal hygiene items, snacks, anything a person on the street might need during the brutal cold.
“Most of the homeless people or people in need don’t have means of travel, so they might be walking short bursts,” Wilt said. “So we try to provide things for them to be able to get to places they might need to get to.”
This weekend’s winter blitz was no exception. The couple put together about 20 bags of supplies, found a list of Danville warming centers online and set out Saturday morning to do their part.
There was just one problem: they couldn’t find a place where they could give supplies to the homeless.
The couple tried First Presbyterian Church and the Laura Lee Fellowship House. Neither one was open.
“All the doors were locked up at the mission, which is on Bowman Avenue, and then we went across the street and there was nobody at the Salvation Army,” Wilt said.
Additionally, while the Danville Family YMCA does serve as a local warming center, it was not acting as such on Saturday due to a large swim meet that affected the facility’s capacity.
While the Danville Village Mall was on the list of warming centers, Wilt decided against stopping by, as he felt that it would be difficult to tell who was in need. He also didn’t expect there to be many people there.
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