MILWAUKEE — It’s easy to lose your patience in this winter weather. But, if you look closely, these blizzard conditions also often seem to bring out the best in people. We witnessed a lot of neighbors helping each other through the cold.
Teri Swoverland makes sure to help her neighbors shovel.
“It’s important to help out when you can,” she said. “It’s cold. I’m happy we’re going to have a white Christmas. The first major snowfall is always sort of magical. But it can stop anytime now.”
More heroes whose capes are covered by winter jackets are parked right in front of the TMJ4 studios. The husband and wife who run the Tacos Leo food truck make orders fresh and then run them out to people waiting in their cars, so customers can stay warm and dry. There’s no heat in their truck, just their grill.
They told us it was absolutely freezing, but they love providing a good meal to people and are thankful for what they have.
Many of us take a hot meal and roof over our heads for granted. Shauntina Washington does not. She’s been staying at Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church’s warming center every night since it opened for the season on Dec. 1.
“I’m very grateful because it’s really cold and I don’t have a place to stay,” Washington said. “I was sleeping downtown.”
Tippecanoe Presbyterian calls its warming center program “Divine Intervention.” It was closed the past two winters due to the pandemic. It’s back open this year through March 31. Anyone without housing can come every night at 6 p.m. and stay until 8 a.m. the next morning. Everyone who enters must first take a Covid-19 test, as well as a drug test.
Due to the generosity of volunteers, the warming center will stay open 24/7 through the holiday weekend, rather than close each day.
“The need is great, and not just because of this weather,” said Trick Eckert, Pastor of Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church. “Homeowners, renters, people with jobs and cars, we’re all being impacted by higher expenses. Folks who are vulnerable from the start are the first to lose their handle on what’s making it possible just to survive.”
“It’s hard,” Washington said. “We keep a good luck charm in our back pocket and hope for the best and pray to God.”
Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church’s warming center relies on cash donations, in addition to donated items.
“We need breakfast items, things they can pack for their lunches,” Eckert said. “We’re looking for socks, mittens, hats, coats, boots, hygiene products. I find so often that when people donate or volunteer it’s all about others, and yet as soon as they become engaged in the work, they realize it’s changing their lives too.”
