Out Of The Cold

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Out Of the Cold Georgetown is now in its third season of helping the homeless and shelter-insecure folks of Georgetown and its greater area have a warm place to sleep during the cold months of winter.

This is a winter refuge program; we are not a shelter – the word “shelter” comes with all kinds of baggage and expectations, such as fully-trained and paid staff, as well as 24/7 availability. Shelters are permanent institutions; we can only operate when we have enough volunteers to make it happen.  

We are open from mid-November until early April, so between 19 and 20 weeks. Three teams of volunteers work during a given night: an Evening Team that opens the space, preps the beds, welcomes the guests, feeds them if they are hungry, and otherwise engages them between 8-11pm. 

At 11pm, our Overnight Team comes in to settle everyone 

 in their beds and then monitor them through the night; if guests are restless or chatty, they can join the Team in the church’s Office until they are ready to go back to bed. 

At 6am, the Overnight Team is relieved by the Morning Team, who cooks breakfast, washes up all the dishes left from the night before, wakes everyone, feeds them, and gets them out the door for 8am.

Since our teams tend to only be two or three people, our maximum number of guests is capped at eight (8).

We will cover payment for our volunteers’ training in first aid, for certification as food handlers, and for training in de-escalation and/or mental health first aid. 

Our guests have multiple reasons for coming to our door: some have mental health struggles; others are dealing with addiction; and some have suddenly found themselves without a place to be for a night! Whatever the case, we try to welcome them warmly and let them know that someone cares for them!

We also have a Community Table program that operates on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, feeding food-insecure individuals and/or those just looking for good food and

good company from 6:30-7:30pm in Knox’s Small Hall.

If you would like to help out in any way, either by volunteering on the front lines or  helping out behind the scenes, please contact Out Of the Cold Georgetown at

outofthecoldgeorgetown@gmail.com and talk to the volunteer coordination team!