How to help the homeless during the polar vortex

The arctic cold — known as the “polar vortex” — affects millions from the Midwest, along the East Coast and into the Deep South. If the chilling air has invaded your city, you have been most likely warned to arm yourself with gloves and hats and stay bundled indoors.

Unfortunately, there are some without proper shelter or resources to stay warm. Here’s how you can help your homeless neighbors.
Contact a shelter to alert them about someone in need

• Atlanta’s Old Adamsville Recreation Center:404-505-3142
  • Baltimore: 311
• Chicago: 1-800-654-8595 or 311
• Detroit’s Salvation Army Shelter Hotline: 1-800-274-3583
• Minneapolis: 211
• New York City: 311
• Philadelphia Homeless Outreach Line: 215-232-1984
• St. Louis’s United Way STL 1-800-427-4626 or 2-1-1.
• Washington, D.C.’s Hypothermia Shelter Hotline: 1-800-535-7252
• Boston’s Pine Street Inn: 617-892-9100
• Use the Salvation Army’s shelter search or Red Cross’s shelter map to locate a shelter in your community.
• Find shelters for homeless youth with Covenant House’s shelter map.

Lend a hand

• The Salvation Army is collecting blankets for their shelters.
  

  #SalvationArmy warming shelters are open. Find location near you: http://t.co/nup9XD4MI8 or donate blankets: http://t.co/lIezRMp7WP.

  — Salvation Army USA (@SalvationArmyUS) January 6, 2014

Let us know in the comments below what your community is doing to protect the homeless from the cold, and we’ll add it to the list.