ODESSA, Texas — After it was closed down for almost a year, the cold weather station at the Odessa Salvation Army has opened up for the public.
The cold weather station is designed for people who are experiencing homelessness as a way to spend a night somewhere warm when the temperature starts dropping.
Captain Justin Vincent, the commanding officer of the Odessa Salvation Army, orchestrated a soft opening on Saturday with the help of some of the Salvation Army's partners.
“They jumped with us and we shotgun opened the shelter on Saturday night. Saturday night we had ten people come into the shelter and then last night, Sunday night, we had sixteen people," Vincent said. "So the number is going up because people are hearing about the shelter opening up and things like that.”
The building, however, needed a face lift. Major updates were given to the fire suppression systems and both male and female dorm rooms.
Several other parts of the station were given an uplift as well.
"A lot of the things is rearranging rooms, rearranging walls, things like that. Redoing floors and making sure that it's not just a functional place to be, but it's also a quality-of-life place where people can have space, where they aren't cramped in, where they can have space to move around in," Vincent said. "The bathrooms have been, the countertops have been redone, the sinks the showers, all of that got redone."
All of these renovations make for a better night's stay for anyone trying to get out of the cold for a night.
The Salvation Army takes in anyone who comes in, no matter their situation or state.
They can’t make it a permanent home. These cold weather stations are meant as temporary stops on the road to something more stable.
“It’s just keeping people alive so that they can turn around whatever the situation for whatever the cause is for their homelessness to get out of that situation and become self-sufficient again," Vincent said. "That’s kind of the goal. The end goal is to get people back on their feet so to speak."
Even if it is temporary, a hot meal and a shower can do wonders for someone’s mental state, while giving them the inspiration to move on.
"We can provide someone with a warm place to stay, we can provide someone with a meal for their stomach, we can give them a shower when they haven't had one in days," Vincent said. "It really changes their outlook on their situation and it tells them I can do this. I can get back on my feet, I just got to continue on a little bit longer."
Because after a year of no Odessa shelter, these doors are open once again thanks to the warm hearts of the community, where they can now find warmth here.