Overnight temperatures in eastern North Carolina this weekend are expected to be in the teens, and an area nonprofit has raised the White Flag to help unhoused people escape from the bitter cold.
Jamie Brown is the Emergency Shelter and Housing Services Director for Onslow Community Outreach in Jacksonville.
She said, "Hypothermia, frostbite, and if they have other underlying medical conditions that could be an issue. We don't want to have individuals out there taking that risk.”
The shelter has 44 permanent beds, and is at capacity most of the time. Brown says the White Flag Shelter allows people to sleep on any extra cots that they can put up and they’ll also get a warm shower and a hot meal.
"Is a crazy cold front that's supposed to be lasting for a while,” she said, So, we are opening our doors for the White Flag until the probably mid-week when it starts to warm back up.”
They open the White Flag shelter any time temperatures become dangerously low.
"Whenever the National Weather Service puts up an alert that temperatures are going to be dropping really quickly, or they are under 32° for three days or more, then we'll open that white flag as long as those temperatures are out there,” she said.
Brown added that they could really use some volunteers to help the vulnerable.
"We are at capacity right now. So, we have 44 individuals that are here every night, plus the unknown number of who's going to come in for the white flag. So, we need hands.”
Anyone interested in volunteering can call Onslow Community Outreach for more information.
The shelter is at 1210 Hargett Street in Jacksonville, and people without a place to sleep out of the elements can register between 6 and 8 p.m. and stay during the overnight hours.
