Warming Center

Church Street’s commitment to its neighbors was never more evident than in mid-February 2025 when the church stepped up to mobilize and open a warming center within 48 hours of learning about an urgent need. This need was caused by the unexpected shutdown of two nearby warming centers.

That extraordinary response was noted and greatly appreciated by the joint City/County Office of Housing Stability and led to Church Street again partnering with the Office of Housing Stability to be an emergency “low barrier” warming center this winter. The Office of Housing Stability will call for warming centers to open whenever the overnight temperature is predicted to drop below 25 degrees. That threshold was met twice in mid-February, but is expected to be reached approximately 25 times over the course of this winter.

What is the Warming Center, and how can you help? Our Mission’s Committee chair, Jeff Smith, sits down to talk about how it came to be and what we need to get it running this year.

How has it gone so far?

One of Church Street’s newest ministries is our Warming Center. As part of a coalition of churches and nonprofits under the direction of the Knoxville-Knox County Office of Housing Stability, we open the Welcome Center and Parish Hall to our neighbors whenever the overnight temperature is forecast to fall to 25 degrees or below. In addition to promoting coordination between warming centers, the Office of Housing Stability provides a security officer for each center. The security officer is onsite the entire time the warming center is open.

So far this winter season, we have had four successful nights where we welcomed a total of 171 very appreciative guests. The demand is such that we have either matched or exceeded our current number of cots each night. All guests are provided a hot supper, healthy snacks throughout their stay, and a hot breakfast in the morning. For our evening meals, we have been able to utilize Mobile Meals who, through a partnership with the University of Tennessee and United Way, are providing approximately 3,500 tasty meals at no cost to area warming centers.

Each Warming Center event requires 20+ volunteers to meet our goal of providing a kind and hospitable place for our neighbors to secure warmth, nourishment, and a place to sleep. So far, 54 CSUMC members have volunteered for the various positions necessary for a successful Warming Center. More volunteers are needed and every person and length of time given counts! Overnight Volunteers are especially critical, as their presence is required to meet the City of Knoxville emergency egress and fire protection code.