Local businesses are serving up hot meals to warming shelters
With the freezing temperatures this past week, warming shelters were set up to allow the homeless a place to escape the cold.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- With the freezing temperatures this past week, warming shelters were set up to allow the homeless a place to escape the cold.
Starkville’s warming shelter was located in the FBC Warehouse and was manned by Starkville Strong for the first half of the week, who brought donations with them.
“We knew the weather was going to be cold for a couple of days and the emergency management systems opened up the warming shelter for us so we put out a call for everybody to donate,” Herrington said.
But it was not just donations from individuals.
“Starkville Strong has provided snacks and things like that for the people who are using the warming shelter, but it has been really beneficial to the community to see some of the businesses step up and provide food for the people staying at the shelter as well as the volunteers that are staffing the shelter,” Herrington said.
Businesses like Taste, Chick-fil-A, Shipleys, Little, Caesars, and many more have been providing hot food for those seeking refuge throughout the week.
Taste Executive Chef Shannon Lindell said she was happy they could help make a difference.
“It seems so small to us to make a few meals and send them out, but it helps people more than we know. It is fantastic that in this time when people just want a hot meal that we all come together and of course we all say yes,” Lindell said.
Josh Herrington of Starkville Strong said this community is what is great about Starkville.
“Starkville has always been a community that cares about everybody and that is kind of what Starkville Strong was built off of, it is a community effort. Everybody comes in and thanks us for what we do and we always say we cannot do it without them. So it has been really heartwarming to see the community rally together around the people who are less fortunate,” Herrington said.
The warming shelter is currently being run by Oktibbeha EMA through Monday.
