BR community organizations join to help people prepare for extreme weather

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Several community organizations are making sure people have a place to stay and/or the resources needed to keep warm.

The St. Vincent de Paul shelter is busy collecting Christmas toys, feeding people, and now making room for additional beds.

“We’re doing the best we can, and hopefully, we have enough beds that we’re able to help everyone and you know there are other great charities throughout the community too that provide shelter as well,” said Michael Acaldo, President & CEO of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Organizations like Evolve Louisiana spent all day giving out sleeping bags, food, blankets, and warm clothing.

“Someone passed away earlier this year to the freeze in January, and we did do a patrol, but he was missed because he was at an odd location,” said Laramie Griffin, founder Evolve Louisiana.

The group plans to patrol the streets in the coming days, to make sure individuals have what they need.

“We’re going to do the same thing for the next four nights, maybe for an hour, to travel around the city to make sure that we don’t miss someone that is in a place that is a lot more hidden,” said Griffin.

From the Office of Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome:

Current Shelters

St. Vincent de Paul located at 1623 Convention St. For information contact: 225-383-7837.

Salvation Army Men’s Shelter located at 7361 Airline hwy. For information contact: 225-355-4483.

Warming Centers on Standby

In case of large-scale power outages where citizens cannot heat their homes for an extended period, causing life safety issues, warming centers are on standby at numerous community centers and other locations around the Parish, ready to open and respond during this freezing weather event.

According to city leaders, an announcement will be made if the need arises to activate the warming centers.

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