Warming center available

Last week, St. Vincent de Paul’s Warming Center served 12 people Thursday, Nov. 19 and 15 more on Friday, Nov. 20. The number swelled to 20 on Saturday, Nov. 21.

When temperatures dipped again and the warming center opened Tuesday, 21 people were served. They awakened to a 9-degree wind chill Wednesday morning.

Jeff Conroy, St. Vincent de Paul’s director, announced Wednesday that based on the long-range forecast, the Warming Center will remain open through Monday night.

Future nights will be extended as extreme cold persists.

The Warming Center, in Post Falls, will be open from 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day to 7 a.m. Friday. Regularly it is open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. when the temperature dips below 25 degrees.

Transportation is available from Coeur d’Alene, and will leave from the St. Vincent de Paul Community Dining Hall at 6:45 p.m. on the nights the warming center is open. Transportation will return to the dining hall the next morning.

The Post Falls Warming Center is at 202 W. Seventh St., behind the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on Seltice Way, in the Kamps Apartments basement.

St. Vincent de Paul is accepting donations of warm food at both locations. Donors should contact the Warming Center Coordinator at (208) 771-5396.