REGINA - For over a week now, temperatures in Regina have been below seasonal, feeling around -50 C at times with the wind chill.
Those who are most vulnerable in the city are feeling the effects of the bitter temperatures.
Because of this, more residents are relying on warming shelters like Carmichael Outreach.
Chrysta Garner, development coordinator with Carmichael Outreach, said the organization has seen an increasing number of people walk through their doors in the past week.
"[During the] nights, we usually average about a hundred people coming through the doors. Tyler [Gelsinger, the executive director], had mentioned it's gone up to 120 [people] now and then on average [50] people spend the whole evening [here], [which is up from the average of 40]."
As for the age demographics, Garner says people between 26 to 35 and 36 to 45 are the highest population of people who are homeless right now.
Not only has there been an increase in people using the warming shelter, but Garner noted a lot of them have come in with frostbite.
"It’s heartbreaking just to see the amount of people that came in [with frostbite], and they have these blisters on their feet and their hands," said Garner.
To help people prepare for the cold temperatures, Carmichael Outreach will give those in need clothing items received via donations to handle being outside for extended periods.
Even with the donations, Garner said they never have enough underwear or heavy-duty gloves to hand out. So, Carmichael Outreach tries to become resourceful and use other items that people can wrap their hands with, like a scarf or socks.
Additionally, the homeless service recently received a donation of 10 to 12 boxes of hand warmers, said Garner. Each box alone contains about a hundred hand warmers. With all these supplies, workers will offer hand warmers to anybody when they're leaving.
Although Carmichael Outreach tries its best to help out anyone it can, the homeless service cannot be opened 24/7 currently due to financial constraints.
However, for the month of Feb., people can go to the Trinity Lutheran Church, which is a block or two away from Carmichael Outreach, between the hours of 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. for shelter and food. This helps fill the gap between when the homeless service closes and reopens. The shelter is run by "Hawk Principal," a community organization, and the TLC Pantry.
Also, the City of Regina stepped up and provided a warming shelter bus, which transported people between Carmichael Outreach and Awasiw between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m.
Garner stressed the importance of having that bus to provide shelter and transportation. "the walk between Awasiw and Carmichael could be death. It could be [that] somebody falls over and freezes in a snow bank. And having this warming bus now, we don't have to worry about that."
Additional information on warming spaces around Regina can be found on the city's website.
