For many people who don't have roofs over their heads, they are relying on places such as the Mother Theresa Day Shelter, Good Samaritan and the Salvation Army to provide warm clothes and a warm place to stay.
It is no surprise to see our city's homeless walking the streets of Corpus Christi, but when the temperatures drop dramatically, what do they do?
“We're really lucky, we got a car to stay in,” said Jeremy Ray. “So, like, it gets us out the wind for the most part, but it still gets really cold in there. We got a million blankets. We pile up and we just try to snuggle up and make sure we share the body heat.”
Jeremy Ray and Ashley Andrews may have a car to stay in, but for the ones that have nowhere to go, they say the Salvation Army and Good Samaritan are best spots on a cold night. But they fill up fast.
“Yeah, you have to get there early,” he said. “Usually they have like one or two spots. You're lucky to get one.”
The Mother Teresa shelter may only be a day shelter, but they provide clothes and blankets for whomever needs them. Mother Teresa said it’s already given out 200 blankets just this week.
“Most of the people are in the streets ya know,” said the shelter’s operations supervisor Sister Rency Moonjely. “Nobody wants to go where they have no house or nothing, that's the reason we’re providing (one).”
And for a day that is supposed to be in the 30's and 40's, Ray and Andrews said it's all about layers.
“You gotta bundle up layers,” Ray said. “It’s really important. And it's super important when you get inside that you take the layers off, let the heat in and put them back on afterwards.”
On the coldest day of 2019, Mother Teresa said it expects to see about 130 people as soon as its doors open for breakfast.
“Cold weather, we know more people (are) coming, we will be cooking more for them, like that,” Moonjely said. “We usually do it like that.”
Mother Teresa says as quickly as donations come -- they also quickly go.
They are always accepting blankets and jackets.
