Lewiston, Farmington churches finding favor as temps fall

LEWISTON – C.J. Jacobs didn’t even have a chance to get the coffee started Thursday morning before the Trinity Jubilee Center was filling up.

“I try to get all set before I open the doors, but it was too cold this morning,” said Jacobs, 39, cook for the center’s lunch program. “We open at 8 a.m. usually, but I had people waiting when I arrived, so I let them in a little early.”

That’s been happening a lot this winter, but especially this week as temperatures dip to arctic ranges. Temperatures topped out at 8 degrees Thursday and were expected to drop to minus 10 degrees overnight. Lows are expected to stay below zero through Saturday.

People trying to cope with single-digit and subzero temperatures in Farmington this week are heading in increasing numbers to the new Warming Center at Henderson Memorial Baptist Church.

No one has yet called other towns in Franklin County or central and northern Oxford County seeking similar relief, according to Franklin and Oxford county emergency management agency directors Tim Hardy and Scott Parker.

At Henderson, the Rev. Susan Crane said 32 people stopped by Thursday to warm up and take in a SeniorsPlus lunch while the temperature outside on a bank thermometer was showing 3 degrees.

Crane said there were several new faces in Thursday’s crowd. Some said their homes are cold and that it’s great to go to the center where it’s warm, she added.

Attendance at the warming center is slowly growing as people opt to turn down home thermostats to conserve oil and spend a day in the center’s warmth, Crane said.

Jacobs said Lewiston’s Jubilee Center has a few people wander in on mornings all year. But there were five people waiting for him to open Thursday. As the Twin Cities’ official warming center, it’s the one place people can count on to be open when they need to shake off the chill.

The center is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and serves lunch Monday through Saturday. Kim Wettlaufer, its executive director, said the center’s other programs haven’t drawn as many people. Attendance at daily meals and the Thursday morning pantry haven’t been as popular.

“It’s just too cold,” he said. “If people can, they’re staying home.”

That’s not an option for Gil Gilbert, 52. Gilbert said he’s been homeless ever since word started spreading among local landlords that he’s a bad tenant. With area shelters full, he moves from friend to friend throughout the day and spends most of his night in hallways or stairwells.

“I’m usually out by 4 a.m., before anyone can notice me,” he said. Then, he’s off to wait for the warming center to open. He stays until the noon TV news is over, and then walks off to a friend’s apartment for afternoon coffee.

“I’m all right,” he said. “I’m working on things. I get three square meals, so I’m OK.”

For Larry St. Pierre, 57, the center is home. He’s staying at Hope Haven Gospel Mission overnight, but has to have a place to go each morning. He arrives at the center as soon as it opens and stays until it closes. Then, he’s off to the Lewiston Public Library until Hope Haven opens for the night.

“We have a television and we have heat and a couch for them to sit on,” Wettlaufer said. “And for a handful of people downtown, that’s what they need most right now.”

Franklin County emergency management Director Tim Hardy said Thursday that he is compiling a list of the county’s most vulnerable residents out of concern for their welfare. He will make some random calls on Friday to check on their well-being.

Staff writers Ann Bryant and Terry Karkos contributed to this report.