The Lubbock Salvation Army on Tuesday prepared extra cots to help the homeless in Lubbock deal with colder temperatures.
Diane Taylor with the Salvation Army said typically about 98 people are housed, but when the temperatures drop, the Salvation Army brings out all available cots in order to house as many people as possible overnight.
Taylor said all those extra cots can help an additional 40 people. The shelter was at capacity for about two weeks after the blizzard, according to Taylor.
“Even though the blizzard was over, the ground was still wet,” Taylor said. “Cold, freezing weather — we still don’t want people out there, so we were at capacity for about 2 weeks.”
“This winter has been pretty hard,” Taylor said. “Last year, I believe in about January, I think when we had a lot of wet weather, we did our cold cots. But now, with the blizzard, it started pretty early this year, so we’ve been preparing since about June.”
Even with all their preparations, Taylor said the Salvation Army could still use more help with supplies like shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, and winter weather gear.
“Supplies are kind of low, right now. We’re in need of gloves, hygiene kits, scarves, beanies, socks, that we can put on the canteen, that way when we go out to look for them, if they don’t want to come in, we can give them stuff to survive the night,” Taylor said.
