The Salvation Army delivered coats, jackets and gloves to people who might be sleeping on the streets Wednesday night with their canteen truck. The truck is used to deliver survival essentials to the homeless. Their first priority is to bring those living on the streets inside to the shelter, so they have somewhere safe and warm to sleep.
But if they cannot, the truck is stocked with gloves, scarves, hats and a hot meal to give out to help them ‘Survive the Night.’
“With these cold temperatures, these individuals are trying to stay the entire night,” said Erica Hitt, social services director at the Salvation Army. “It’s dangerous. We don’t want there to be a loss of life if it can be prevented.”
With expected freezing temperatures overnight in the next couple of weeks, homeless people are at risk.
“Survive the Night for us is when our disaster team goes out and targets the individuals on the streets,” said Hitt. “If for some reason they don’t want to come back to the shelter, that’s when we provide them with all the necessities to survive the night.”
The team goes out to the streets when temperatures are 30 degrees or below at 6 p.m.
“We try to identify the prime locations where these individuals are going to be, and that’s where we target. If the community wants to help, it’s all about donations.”
All items handed out to the homeless by Salvation Army are donations, and the organization is in desperate need of certain items.
“We take any donation. Right now we are almost out of gloves,” said Hitt. “We are in need of gloves, beanies, scarves, hand warmers.”
If you’d like to donate, you can drop off items at the Salvation Army location in downtown Lubbock.
