With frigid temperatures carrying well into April, Barrie’s Out of the Cold program has seen a thirty percent increase in guests. “We’ve actually hit over 6100 guest visits” said Stacey Daoust.
On average the shelter has welcomed an additional 5 people at night; reaching forty guests most evenings. “From 174 nights, we’ve been at capacity or over 104 nights”
To deal with the higher volume of people this winter, Alliston’s Out of the Cold shelter, which opened this season, welcomed guests from Barrie.
Daoust said: "They've unfortunately have closed for their season, their first season and so that's why then the last couple of weeks we have seen an increase in numbers as well."
Barrie’s Out of the Cold program closes for the season on April 30th; forcing many who rely on a roof over their head to look elsewhere.
One guest said today: "It keeps us warm and all that stuff. It keeps us fed and donations do help a lot. I can honestly say we would have been dropping like flies because it was a cold winter this year."
To help provide additional warmth, Out of the Cold is now accepting donations of camping gear, “we are looking for camping supplies such as tarps, tent and sleeping bags." said Daoust.
