Organizations help homeless stay warm before weekend snow
Lighthouse Mission in Bellport is making sure people stay fed and warm during the winter months, especially when temperatures get below freezing.
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Some organizations are providing food, warm clothing and places to get out of the cold and spend the night.
Lighthouse Mission in Bellport is making sure people stay fed and warm during the winter months, especially when temperatures get below freezing.
From coats and gloves to canned goods and produce, organizers are doing their best to make sure people have what they need to weather the storm.
Lighthouse Mission has distributions five days a week across their nine locations in Suffolk County. There are two on Saturday; one in Patchogue at 10 a.m. and one at 12 p.m. in Bellport.
“We’re there regardless,” Michael Caiazzo said. “Whether it’s 100 degrees or negative five… We’re there to provide hope beyond the food.”
“This might be their only time to get food, to get warm winter clothing, blankets. And we’re giving out extra because it’s going to be so cold,” Emily Ryan said. “We want to keep them as warm as possible and try to encourage them to go into shelters.”
In Nassau County, the Family and Children’s Association is trying to get teens off the street. They operate a shelter for runaway, homeless and trafficked kids.
“Being a runaway or homeless kid on Long Island is hard any time of year, but it's especially hard during the winter months and it's especially hard during a snowstorm where there's no place to go,” President Dr. Jeffery Reynolds said.
Reynolds believes there are hundreds of homeless kids on Long Island and expects to see an influx in shelters throughout the weekend.
“It really is a race against time trying to get to them while we still can before the snow hits in full force,” Reynolds said. “We're open regardless of the weather and ready, willing and able to help those kids so that they're not left out in the cold.”
