SHEBOYGAN, Wisc. — The colder temperatures are increasing stress on the unhoused populations, Sheboygan included.
When a viewer reached out to me expressing his concern over a man he saw sleeping under a bridge in below-freezing weather, I knew this dire issue needed attention.
I connected with 48-year-old Brian Oglan who was born and raised in Sheboygan.
He agreed to share his experience of homelessness.
"This is the first time I've been through this,” he said. “Four or five months, I've been out on the street kind of suffering… It was freezing but I was surviving."
During our midday interview, both of our breaths were visible, a sign of an inevitably colder night.
Oglan showed me his go-to sleeping spot — the bus station.
"This is normally where I set up, lay everything right here,” he pointed at the bench.
The area is shielded slightly by plastic walls without a floor or a ceiling, so the air remains frigid.
"I was told that we no longer could be on the premises because we were trespassing,” Oglan explained. “So I was like, 'Where am I supposed to go?’"
Nonprofits in town like Pay It Forward and Open Door offer refuge during the day, but limited services are offered overnight.
Watch: What Sheboygan leaders are doing to combat homelessness.
"Food and clothing are being met, it's the housing that's being torn apart right now,” Oglan noted.
Luckily, the Sheboygan County Warming Center opened this week.
"It's an all-hands-on-deck situation,” said Operations Manager Karina Aguirre.
The Center moved to a new location this year — St. Luke United Methodist Church — when it outgrew the last space.
The team was losing hope in the search for a new headquarters when the new pastor, Ruth Hallstead, reached out.
"The church approved us on October 31 and we were in here November 1,” Aguirre said.
Then it was time to set up and hire staff on a tight budget.
Despite these barriers, the Warming Center opened for the first time Monday night and served 38 guests, including Oglan.
Comfortably, they can fit 70.
“We won’t be turning anyone away,” Aguirre insisted.
It's a first-come, first-served protocol but regulars can request a reserved cot if one's available. If cots are full, guests will be given a chair or blankets to lie on the floor.
"They're really a community of folks and real people who are here to be with one another and to get in out of the cold just like any of us would want to,” nodded Hallstead.
The Center will be open every night through April 15 — a small sigh of relief for Brian.
His advice? “Don't ever give up.”
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