Volunteer Opportunity Details:

COLD WEATHER SHELTER PLANS

The cold weather is coming! Freezing temperatures are dangerous for people who are homeless and need shelter. Trinity Center and St. David’s provides evening and overnight shelter for women on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights when the temperature is expected to fall below freezing. The city decides when shelters need to open, calls our contact people, and publicizes the information to the homeless population.

We have two shifts of volunteers each night, one from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (evening) and another from 9:30 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. (overnight). Evening volunteers set up mats and blankets, welcome our neighbors, heat and serve dinner, show a movie, and lend an ear as the women settle down for the night. The overnight volunteers take turns sleeping and staying awake, and they provide monitoring, answer questions, assist the neighbors as needed throughout the night, then prepare and serve breakfast and coffee and clean up the space. In the past, the Friday Moms Group has provided frozen meals for the dinner, and volunteers have brought salad, bread, dessert and breakfast.

We learn by noon on any given day whether or not we’ll need to open the shelter. We ask volunteers to sign up for times that they’re generally available from November to March (for example, Friday overnights only), and we contact you that day to see if you can help that night. We plan to have enough people on call so that everyone will serve only one or two times throughout the season. This does not committ you to volunteer, but just places you on the call sheet.

We can open our shelter only when we have enough volunteers to run it, and we’re the only Cold Weather Shelter for women in Austin on those freezing nights. So come meet some amazing women and help them get out of the cold!

You must be at least 18 years old to volunteer.

This opportunity is sponsored by: Trinity Center

Volunteers will work with the following groups Adults (26-54) Minorities Homeless Older Adults (55+) Low-income / Poverty Women We need volunteers who are free at these times Evenings Weekends Occasional This volunteer opportunity is available to the following types of volunteers Adults (26-54) Small Group (2-10) Adults (55+) Young Adults (18-25) Individual This volunteer opportunity addresses the following social interests Emergency Services Hunger / Food Homelessness Women's Housing We are looking for volunteers with the following skills Caregiver Meal Preparation / Serving Companionship

Contact Person: Emily Kennedy, AmeriCorps Case Manager, (512) 610-3567, (email) View all agency contacts

Address:

304 E.7th Street Austin, TX 78701 (See a map)

Directions:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=internal&addtohistory=&latitude=piCHABxIq6k%3d&longitude=TGLHy1Tim0w%3d&name=Trinity%20Center&country=US&address=12th%20%26%20Trinity&city=Austin&state=TX&zipcode=78701&phone=512%2d617%2d4658&spurl=0&&q=Trinity%20center&qc=Executive%20Suites For maps or information, please see http://www.capmetro.org/riding/trip_info.asp