A newly formed nonprofit group is hoping to build a new shelter to protect the community’s most vulnerable during the coldest months of the year.
The Flathead Warming Center hopes to establish a low-barrier shelter before next winter that will be open from November to March. Luke Heffernan and Tonya Horn are spearheading the effort, and there will be an informational meeting on March 5 in Kalispell.
Although there are shelters in Kalispell, there are no low-barrier faculties. Most shelters require residents not be using drugs or have a criminal background, which means some people are unable to stay there. That means some people are left in the cold or have to sleep in their car or the police station lobby. Heffernan said he hopes to fashion the Flathead Warming Center after a similar facility in Bozeman.
“We need to have both shelter options,” he said. “We want the Flathead Warming Center to fill a need that we’re seeing in the community.”
“We say, ‘Come as you are,’” said Horn, who is a social worker at the Western Montana Mental Health Center and previously managed the Bozeman facility.
Although the warming center will be a low-barrier facility, there will be rules and an occupancy agreement meant to keep all residents safe. Anyone who violates those rules would be asked to leave.
Organizers hope to rent a building somewhere in the Kalispell area and have space for 30 people by November. They would have separate spaces for men, women and families. The facility would only be open at night, and there would be no limit on how many nights someone could stay.
Heffernan, who is owner of Prime Enterprises Construction, said the facility will not be fancy but will be safe.
“We’re going to offer the basics: warmth and safety,” he said. “This isn’t going to be the Hilton or the Taj Mahal.”
The nonprofit is working with a number of other organizations, including the Kalispell Police Department, Kalispell Regional Healthcare, Western Montana Mental Health Center, the Flathead Public Defenders Office and Sunburst Community Service Foundation.
Heffernan said their first mission will be to find an appropriate space for the facility.
An informational meeting will be held at the Central Christian Church sanctuary at 248 Second Avenue East in Kalispell on March 5 at 7 p.m.
For more information or to contact the organizers, email [email protected]. Donations can be sent to Flathead Warming Center, PO Box 7142, Kalispell, Montana 59904.