BRANSON, Mo. (KY3) - Now that temperatures are dropping, there is a bit more of a need for warming shelters for people who have nowhere to go.
“This season, we are opening a warming center called House of Hope here at the top of Riley Treasures Thrift Store,” Riley’s Treasures thrift store owner Riley Snyder said.
At the top of Riley Snyder’s store is a large empty space mostly filled with books. Snyder said it seemed like a good idea to put that space to use.
“There’s no reason for it to sit vacant when somebody else could be using it,” she said.
Snyder said the idea came about from a few other friends and another local thrift store. While the warming center will be at her store, she said the effort has been across the board.
“We are here facilitating, but I mean the community around us, they have really just thrown this together with us,” Snyder said. “It’s just been incredible to watch people to do that.”
Doors at House of Hope will open at 6 p.m. on those cold days that are 32 degrees or colder. Snyder said she plans to have the warming shelter open throughout the winter. She said it is important that people who are homeless have somewhere to go when it is cold in Branson.
“I don’t think a lot of people in the area realize how big the homeless community is here in Branson. So it’s a huge need,” Snyder said. “And we’ve had so many people whenever we first put it out that we were doing this they were like okay let me jump in and help in any way I can. And so it’s been so cool to watch this community come together and put this together.”
She said she even got some help from the Salvation Army, which is not able to have a warming center in Branson this season. Amid the pandemic, she said her shelter will take safety precautions.
“We make sure to sanitize after every time they come in,” Snyder said. “We sanitize all the cots and then we also have masks. We’re making sure that everybody wears their masks while they’re in here.”
Snyder said she feels it is especially important to help the homeless after this year.
“If anything we’ve all learned from this year, it’s that everybody is important,” Snyder said. “This has been a crazy season. It’s been a year that nobody has really know how to handle. So it’s just realizing that there are people out there with even more needs than maybe we realize. So it’s just our job to treat every human the way we’d like to be treated.”
House of hope will hold 25 people a night. Snyder said each guest will also leave with kits.
“We are sending kits out with each of them that have socks, gloves, the hot hands, and we’re also including snacks and things like that,” she said.
Anyone interested in helping or volunteering at the warming center can reach out through House of Hope’s Facebook page.
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December 13, 2020 at 10:36AM
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Branson thrift store opens warming center for homeless community during winter - KYTV
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