January 14, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Shelter from the cold for the homeless!
Although it was not scheduled to open quite so soon, an emergency shelter for the homeless of DeKalb County has been opened by the non-profit group “Live and Let Live” for the next couple of days because of weather forecasts which currently call for 2-4 inches of snow and bitterly cold temperatures at night and during the day.
Volunteers were busy Sunday getting the shelter ready to open with food and supplies. Its located at 656-B West Broad Street in the back of the Vitality Fit building owned by Tyler Cantrell, a small space that Live and Let Live is leasing from Cantrell, apart from his business. The shelter is next door to O’Reilly Auto Parts and across the street from Bridgeway Motel. Look for the mailbox with the address. There’s also a small sign on the door to the side of the building.
The shelter is temporarily open to anyone who doesn’t have a place to shelter and keep warm and its being operated under the supervision of Live and Let Live volunteers.
“We are offering shelter beginning tonight (Sunday, January 14) at 4 p.m. and we plan to stay open through the day Monday and Tuesday, January 15 & 16,” Live and Let Live board member Gina Arnold told WJLE. “We have been watching the weather forecasts and we understand its going to be quite cold. We would like to get all of our unsheltered friends out of the cold and offer them a warm place to sleep and an option for them to shower and have a place to launder their clothes if needed and get a hot meal. We will be laundering the bedding and towels on site,” she said.
“We actually just acquired our non-profit status last month, so we had not planned to open this quickly, but the pending weather caused us to take a leap of faith and open up for our unsheltered friends,” Arnold explained. “Everybody has been so kind to come together and help support this effort. Temporarily this week because daytime temperatures are projected to be so cold we do plan to be open through the day but normally our goal for the rest of the winter is to open up on the nights when temperatures fall below 25 degrees starting at 4 p.m. and stay open until the following morning at 7 a.m. with the exception of the times when we are able to have enough volunteers here to provide daytime shelter due to the cold temperatures. I know 25 is still very cold but if we have good volunteer services then we might be able to be open when the temperatures are below 32 degrees,” said Arnold.
The community has rallied in support of Live and Let Live’s mission to serve the homeless in this community, but more volunteers are encouraged to join the effort.
“There has been an outpouring of support with people bringing in food for this week. We so appreciate all of our volunteers. We have had lots of food donations as well as donations of appliances and volunteer time. We have had volunteers to bring in meals for the night and daytime snacks and things like that. Churches and individuals in the area have been so very generous. We can’t say enough about the love everybody has shown,” said Arnold.
If you would like to help or get more information contact Dean Adcock at 931-409-5146, Lillie Vaughn at 931-265-3933, or Gina Arnold at 615-464-3047 or email liveandletlivetn@gmail.com. You may also visit the Live and Let Live, DeKalb County TN Facebook page to send a private message.