Cold winters are nothing new in central Iowa, but Friday’s temperatures — with wind chills as low as -42 degrees and school cancellations across the area — were cause for concern as officials urged residents to stay inside, and impromptu warming centers and free meals were arranged for anyone in need.

The city of Marshalltown announced that the Veterans Memorial Coliseum would be opening as a warming center with cots available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Additionally, an anonymous donor provided sandwiches at the Coliseum beginning at noon on a first-come, first-serve basis, and the Mid-Iowa Triumph Recovery Center served soup beginning at 11 a.m. as well as a dinner beginning around 5 p.m.., on a first-come, first-serve basis while supplies lasted. The Triumph Center, now located at 29 S. 1st St., also served as an overnight warming center.

Marshalltown Municipal Transit offered free rides to and from the Coliseum throughout the day and from the Coliseum to the Triumph Recovery Center until 5 p.m.

Sharon Swope, the director of the Triumph Recovery Center, said it has already been one of the coldest winters in recent memory, and in addition to serving people who are homeless, she was also making trips to pick up those struggling to stay warm at their apartments. Because of the extreme cold Friday, the Elks Lodge next to the facility agreed to open up its big room for overnight stays.

“We don’t have a choice. I can’t let anybody freeze to death,” she said. “We’re all working together on the services to make sure there are no deaths and people are taken care of.”

The Marshalltown Area United Way worked to coordinate the meals on Friday as the Elks donated pork loins for dinner, and members of a local church contributed the soup for lunch.

“We just live day-to-day with what we can do. It is cold. All our people have gloves and they have what they need, but it’s still too cold. It’s dangerously cold,” Swope said. “The Coliseum opening is huge. I wish they could do 24 hours when it’s this cold, but that’s OK. We’re there. We’re pretty burnt out. It’s been a long winter for us, but the people who have been there for a while know the rules and they make sure that the people coming in know the rules. So it’s going well.”

The Triumph Center, she added, goes beyond simply providing shelter and actively works to help people find stable housing even without federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding.

“As long as we keep care coordinating, it’s not like they’re coming in and just sleeping and then going back out in the cold. It’s not gonna be like that at our place. We always care coordinate,” Swope said. “Right now, with the cold, I don’t know if that’ll be the way it is because it’s just too cold for anybody to even think about — so they come in, and they’re so cold. They just need comfort, and they need warmth and they need food. Honestly, that’s what they need. That’s important.”

Churches, businesses and service organizations have been great about providing meals and supplies such as blankets, she said, and Swope was happy to see them stepping up once again given the circumstances.

“We don’t know how many are gonna go to the Coliseum and how many are gonna need a place overnight. We don’t know that, so I’m hoping that we can handle it. We’ve been at maximum (capacity) — eight people is maximum — and we’ve been a little over that sometimes,” Swope said. “We have a place for the females and a place for the males, and we don’t get children in there very often, once in a blue moon, and of course, they have their own family space. So that’s not a problem.”

She also credited Child, Adolescent and Parent Support (CAPS) for its assistance and reiterated the need for a permanent shelter to serve Marshalltown’s homeless population.

“I’m 70 this year, and I just don’t know if I’m gonna be able to keep going. So I’m trying my best,” Swope said.

During an interview with the T-R on Friday morning, Marshall County Emergency Management Coordinator Kim Elder said she hadn’t responded to any specific calls or weather-related issues yet, but these temperatures always amplify the risk for pipes freezing, water mains breaking and unsafe heating methods within homes such as using ovens, inside generators and charcoal grills.

“It’s one of the coldest (days) that we get. We can have some adverse days with the cold. We’re lucky it’s clearer and not blizzardy. We’ve got the cold, we’ve got the wind. We don’t have the ice. We don’t have the things that could happen like they are happening south and east of us, so we don’t have those other additions to the cold, but the cold itself is definitely deadly,” she said. “It can work on our vehicles too. Even though it starts when you leave the house doesn’t mean it’s gonna start when you get where you’re going and want to come back. So make sure that you’ve got all the car kit things to keep you warm and a fresh battery and those kinds of things. Make sure that you’ve got somebody knowing what direction you’re traveling in case you do have car issues, even though we don’t have the snow… It’s just outright dangerous with anybody, but especially those that are most vulnerable.”

In smaller communities in the county outside of Marshalltown, Elder recommended that residents in need of a place to warm up reach out to churches, city halls, public libraries and fire stations about availability.

Marshall County Sheriff Joel Phillips told the T-R that as of about noon Friday, his office had only responded to one disabled vehicle, a commercial box delivery truck with diesel fuel gelled up, stranding the driver on Highway 30 east of Marshalltown.

“We provided a ride to McDonald’s until his employer could get it serviced. I know tow truck responses are delayed due to the cold weather and high volume of dead or weak batteries,” Phillips said. “Make sure you have a full tank of fuel, winter survival kit, charged phone, vehicle fluids are warmed up and windows are defrosted before traveling. If you become stranded, stay in your vehicle until help arrives. And of course, if you don’t have to travel, please stay home until weather conditions improve.”

Marshalltown Police Department (MPD) Cpt. Kiel Stevenson said they had received calls for disabled vehicles, and he expressed concern about animals being left outside without shelter.

“We encourage everyone to limit their time outside and stay home, if possible,” he said.

——

Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.