Greene County Warm Nights is not quite what people believe it to be. The shelter is associated mostly with providing cover and heat for the homeless community, but it is not only the homeless community that benefits.

According to Amy Switalski, the housing and family resources director at Greene County Human Services, Greene County Warms Nights are not meant to serve solely the homeless community.

“They don’t have to be homeless; they could be without heat simply because the propane tank for their heater hasn’t showed up yet or they lost power for whatever reason,” said Switalski. “We’ll take in whoever needs to be protected from the bitter cold.”

The warm shelter, located at the Greene County Fairgrounds, is the sole location. In past years, multiple sites housed the people in need of heat and shelter in two week rotations, but as the group expanded, the fairgrounds house became the only site for the shelter.

The shelter opens each winter at the start of November and continues into the new year, until March 31. However, the shelter is not always open for use. Due to the shelter’s purpose to keep people warm who are without access to heat, it does not open unless the temperatures drop below 25 degrees.

The shelter is limited in its resources, though, so people must sign up treserve their spots in the house. Everyone who volunteers to work the shelter has a day job or other daytime responsibilities. The shelter also requires that there be at least two volunteers those nights, depending on the number of residents registered to stay in the house.

“People are required to have registered by 4 p.m. through either the hotline or the 211 number,” said Switalski. “This is just so that we can know how many people we will be dealing with. That way, we can get an appropriate amount of resources and volunteers.”

The shelter opens at 7 p.m. and houses those who registered until 7 a.m.

“Greene County Human Services does take on the role that if there is someone that stays there, we will try to make sure that the person has somewhere to go the next day that’s warm enough during the day time,” said Switalski. “All while working with them on solving their situation, whether it be just a furnace waiting for fuel or a propane tank.”

Because the shelter opens based on the temperature, the group relies on only one weather app and service, the ACU-weather app.

Greene County Warm Nights has plans to expand, thanks to a “strong, supporting partnership” with the Salvation Army and local food pantries.

“We want to make sure we can utilize the house as much as possible,” said Switalski. “We have enough donations of hats and gloves, along with nonperishable snacks and donations, we would like to go longer. It’s just finding volunteers that can be tricky. We’re even looking at getting the permission from the commissioners to still utilize the house maybe even during the summer as a cooling shelter if someone’s air conditioning to go out or someone not having access to cooling. We just want to use the house as much as possible and help as many people as possible.”

Anyone in need of a warm shelter can call the SPHS crisis line 1-800-417-9460 or dial 211 to register to stay in the shelter. In the case of an emergency, where it is past the 4 p.m. registration cut off, someone without access to heat can call the borough police who can assist in finding a warm shelter.