Weather warning still in place for all Southwestern Ontario.
It’s been a bitter cold day to start the week. The deep freeze is challenging for people from all walks of life, but these bitter cold temperatures are especially tough for people who are homeless.
Damian Woods, says “I was treated on Saturday for frostbite on my fingers. “I cannot walk properly”, he says.
An environment Canada extreme weather warning was in effect for all of Southern Western Ontario.
Fatimah Cowan, Social worker at the Central Library London, public Library, said people have been coming into the library for shelter since it became very cold. She says they welcome donations of warm clothes to help keep up with demand.
We’re not in really in need right now, which is good because right now it’s pretty cold out there,” she said. “But definitely I would say by the end of January and into February, we’ll be needing a restock to get us through the month of February at least.” The public library say they are seeing increased usage as the temperature drops.
George Slatt says he has been homeless for a couple of months, after being evicted from his apartment because of lack of funds.
Slatt said being homeless is extremely difficult to deal with in colder temperatures. While Slatt stays around looking for shelter, he says that the City of London should please do something, like opening warming stations or heating centers.
“It is extremely cold, very cold I can’t continue to live like this.”
He sometimes warms up at the Public Library in the afternoon but would like to see more places open for people without a roof like him to warm up both day and night.
Fatimah also says, “when the weather hits like this, the importance is finding those people that don’t know what supports are out there.” We know they are going into the businesses like the Citi Plaza, and different places to try to warm up. You see them on transit buses. It is one of the challenges of having limited shelter space.”
The number of people coming into the library for free gloves, and other clothing has gone up. “If we had 600 pairs of gloves today, I would expect them to be gone by Thursday,” said Fatimah.
Every now and then we have somebody come in distress. Maybe their footwear is frozen, or they don’t have any appropriate footwear which is extremely important and it’s difficult to find.”
My Sister’s place was one of the places Layla Martin plans to visit on Wednesday, as she went around the city on foot looking for warm food and shelter.
“We need Londoners to help out with donations, so blessings can be with us in the City of London.”
