Following Dallas city officials’ decision to open a homeless shelter in Dallas’ Fair Park ahead of the winter storm, various non-profit organizations, including OurCalling, hit the streets, providing information to homeless people about where they can find shelter.
The Search-and-Rescue arm of OurCalling circulated throughout Dallas on February 2, sharing information with people about where they could find shelter during the storm. Volunteers were available to distribute food, water, and firewood to people who live in homeless encampments.
According to The Dallas Morning News, many who are experiencing homelessness in the city were reluctant about leaving their tents and belongings even as wind chills were in the single digits and temperatures continued to drop.
Will Brooks, who said he had been homeless for more than a year, told The Dallas Morning News that he and others in the encampment were concerned about leaving their property behind in the tents.
“We may not have much, but we appreciate what we have because it wasn’t easy to get. So we have to be concerned with a lot of things that people don’t realize,” Brooks said.
Wayne Walker, executive director of OurCalling, invited Brooks and others in the encampment to the Fair Park shelter, but his offer was declined by some who said they would rather spend the night at the encampment.
Walker revealed that some people at the encampment were likely to suffer frostbite or other health issues due to the weather.
The executive director added that even though volunteers mean well when they distribute resources to homeless people, they make it more difficult for his organization to get them off the streets during extreme weather conditions. He suggests donating to organizations dedicated to helping the homeless, rather than directly to the homeless themselves, to encourage them to go to the shelters.
“We see them all the time. We used to be [the people handing things out on the street], so I can’t criticize someone for doing the right thing,” Walker said. “And then I watched a lot of homeless friends die.”
Walker added that OurCalling’s mission is to link people looking to get off the street to a community they can depend on. He also acknowledged that while not everyone accepts the non-profits’ offers of help, their interactions with them can save lives.
