January 31, 2019
Barrie Advance
Chris Simon
‘We’re just doing our best’: Barrie shelters see demand increase as cold snap settles in
The weather is so cold the David Busby Centre’s outreach van is frozen shut, forcing staff to use their own vehicles to provide services to the city’s most vulnerable residents, executive director Sara Peddle said.
“We’re making sure everybody is in from the cold, and our outreach team is making sure everybody has a place to be or at least the supplies to be warm,” she told Simcoe.com on Thursday. “People are still outside, and we’re trying to connect with them.”
While Busby has been at cot capacity for a few days, it will remain open throughout the extreme cold. Busby has taken in more than 70 people per night during the cold snap.