As Mississippi braces for a powerful winter storm, charitable organizations are expanding services and encouraging residents to take early precautions.
Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday announced a state of emergency through Jan. 30 in anticipation of prolonged freezing temperatures and possible sleet, freezing rain and ice, which were expected to begin in parts of the state Friday night and continue through next week.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has a list of warming shelters on its website. The agency also encourages Mississippians to prepare for the winter weather by preparing an emergency supply kit.
Hannah Maharrey, executive director of Good Samaritan Health Services in Tupelo, said the organization has spent the last week working to ensure that unhoused people are aware of the severity of the impending storm and have a plan to seek shelter. Though the nonprofit is accustomed to communicating about severe weather in the summer, preparing for cold and ice of this magnitude is a “new experience,” she said.
The organization has helped several people this week to obtain identification cards, a requirement for some area shelters.
She encourages people to be proactive about seeking shelter, and for those who don’t, to seek medical attention as soon as possible if they experience health problems from the frigid temperatures.
“Don’t wait until it’s too late,” she said.
In Alcorn County in the northeastern corner of the state, A Place of Grace is serving hot meals three times a day and setting up accommodations for people to stay overnight at the Gospel Tabernacle Church in Corinth. Kelly Thornton, the organization’s executive director and cook, said the nonprofit is working with local emergency management services to transport people to the church, where she and others set up at least 50 cots and mattresses.
An info-pamphlet from A Place of Grace in Corinth, Miss. Credit: Courtesy of A Place of GraceThe organization is planning to continue these services until at least Feb. 2. Thornton said she expects roads to close and recommends people in the area call the organization early, at 662–287-7737, if they need transportation to the shelter.
Thornton, who lived through the Mississippi Delta Ice Storm of 1994, said the early reports of the looming cold front feel reminiscent of it.
“It kind of caught people unaware,” she said. “We knew something was coming. I don’t think they really predicted the magnitude of what it turned out to be.”
Roderick Gordon, the director of the North Delta Planning and Development District Area Agency on Aging, said meals originally scheduled for delivery this weekend or early next week to homebound seniors were being distributed Friday to ensure people are prepared for the storm.
Schelika Chisolm, who runs Salvation Army of Tupelo, said her shelter will be operating with special rules for the winter storm and the following week, during which temperatures are expected to drop below freezing. However, the food pantry will only be open during its regular hours: weekdays 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Special rules include allowing people to stay in the shelter during the day, rather than requiring them to leave at 8 a.m. and return at 4 p.m. As of Friday afternoon, the shelter only had six beds available, out of 61.
“We are going to provide meals and beverages, shelter, cold weather supplies like blankets, gloves and hats,” she said.
Her team will be out in the community checking on people as soon as it’s safe to do so, Chisolm said.
“Once the roads are clear, we take our canteens (trucks) out, and we try to find those areas where maybe the lights are out, and we distribute hot meals and things of that nature,” Chisolm said. “So, that will be part of the second phase once the storm passes a little bit.”
Robin Boyles, chief program planning and development officer of Delta Health Center, said the county will host warming shelters at the Cleveland Expo Center and the Rosedale Courthouse. Delta Health Center has nonperishable food items available any time in drop boxes outside its Mound Bayou, Indianola, Moorehead, Hollandale, Leland, Greenville and Rolling Fork locations.
If people would like to help A Place of Grace’s efforts, Thornton said the organization is accepting food donations to the church at 1624 Glover Drive, Corinth, Miss.
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