A Bangor Group is Renting Rooms to Keep Homeless Out of the Cold

Needlepoint Sanctuary in Bangor is renting hotel rooms for the area's un-housed to protect them from the expected arctic blast.

How Do I Find Warming Shelters in My Community?

While most of us will be inconvenienced by the extreme cold that's being forecast for the rest of the week, it will be dangerous and potentially deadly for the area's homeless population. This is not the kind of weather you can wait out in a tent with a sleeping bag. So Maine communities are opening warming centers and extending the hours of existing centers and shelters. Find information about facilities in your area at 211 Maine. 

What Organization is Renting the Hotel Rooms?

But one Bangor organization is taking it a step further by renting hotel rooms for people who wouldn't otherwise have a place to stay. Needlepoint Sanctuary typically partners with other agencies to provide support for people with substance use disorder, like setting up needle exchanges in Pickering Square to make sure they're not reusing their needles. The group also distributes the opioid overdose reversal drug, naloxone.

Do They Also Have a Warming Shelter and Where is it Located?

Now, this group has partnered with the Bangor Unitarian Universalist Church on Park Street to get as many members of the area's homeless population as they can into safe places for the duration of the cold snap. A Go Fund Me page has been set up which is being used to fund the rental of hotel rooms for the people willing to go into them. In addition, they've set up a warming shelter at the church for Thursday through Sunday and are looking for volunteers to help run it. More information can be found on the Needlepoint Exchange Facebook page.