FREEZE SQUEEZING SHELTERS

A wind chill advisory for the region lasts until 4 a.m. Saturday.

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — Not everyone heads to a warm home after a long day.

Exceptionally cold weather, coupled with economic issues that have hurt people’s ability to put a roof over their heads, has the Warren Family Mission full at two of its three locations — and preparing to fill the third.

Todd Vaughn, who works in the Family Mission’s Elm Road shelter, said the mission’s 1228 W. Market St. location near Parkman Road has risen from about 40 men to about 60 within the past week.

Its women’s facility on Porter Street has gone from about three people to about a dozen during that time.

Both facilities are close to capacity, so Family Mission leaders are collecting blankets, pillows and other supplies and preparing to heat the gymnasium at the Elm Road facility in case people keep coming, Vaughn said.

The mission provides a place for people to sleep at night and two meals a day. Residents are required to leave the facility during the day, basically from about 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Vaughn said.

Those who need help should bring themselves to the West Market Street shelter, Vaughn said.

Those wishing to help the Family Mission with donations of food, blankets, pillows and money should bring those items to the 361 Elm Road location near Scott Street downtown, Vaughn said. For more information on the Family Mission, call (330) 394-5437.

The Salvation Army at 1501 Glenwood Ave. in Youngstown does not provide shelter, but it does serve hot meals from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday from the 15th to the end of each month, said Major James Foley, commander.

At this point, however, the demand for meals has not been overwhelming. Perhaps it has been too cold, and the roads and sidewalks are not cleared of snow, keeping people at home, Foley said.

He said the Salvation Army does have clothing, including coats and boots that people can take if they need them.

Likewise, while the demand for shelter is up at the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley, 962 Martin Luther King Blvd., Youngstown, it has not exceeded its capacity, said Ronald Starcher, director of client services.

Wednesday saw the second highest number of people seeking shelter this winter season, with 78 people, 33 in the family service unit and 48 in the men’s service unit. However, Starcher said, the mission has 144 sleeping spaces and additional cots can be set up in an emergency.

He said the Rescue Mission is part of the Help Hotline Crisis Center’s Cold Weather Emergency Program, under which people can get shelter at the mission between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. by calling Hotline at 211 or (330) 747-2696. Starcher said the mission also serves three hot meals a day, seven days a week.

While the Rescue Mission has changed its policy, and allows men to remain all day, they can chose to leave and seek shelter at the Greater Youngstown Point, 322 Wick Ave., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Starcher said.

Help Hotline Crisis Center has seen an increase in calls from people seeking shelter, and also increased calls from people who are concerned about having their utilities shut off, said Cathy Grizinski, associate director.

“We reassure them their utilities won’t be shut off in this cold weather, and refer them to the Home Energy Assistance Program operated by the Mahoning County-Youngstown Community Action Program. We may also recommend they seek shelter with family or friends or the Rescue Mission if their situation is too bad,” she said.

Keeping Fido, Fifi warm

Animal shelters have also seen a spike in service needs this week due to low temperatures.

“We are really bombarded with phone calls — the past couple days have been nuts,” said Debbie Agostinelli, Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County shelter director.

Many people have called to give locations of where they saw strays and also to tell of homes where animals are kept outside, she said.

“We prefer animals being left outdoors be brought into at least a garage or basement,” she said adding that animals should be taken inside when temperatures hit 20 degrees or lower.

Animal houses that are outside need to have a roof, a floor and four sides. The houses should be equipped with appropriate bedding, which could be straw or pine or cedar shavings, not blankets or towels, she said.

Animals burn more calories when trying to stay warm, so it’s essential to provide them with more food than usual and plenty of water. Some water dishes freeze, so owners should change water at least three times a day, said Agostinelli.

“We see a lot of frost bitten noses and tails,” she said of animals facing the same dangers in the cold as people.

For more information call the Animal Welfare League at (330) 394-4122.

There’s a wind chill advisory in effect until 4 a.m. Saturday. Today should be mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow showers. High temperatures will be around 4 above. West winds will be 10 to 15 mph — meaning wind chill values as low as 20 below.

Tonight: Cold with lows around 6 below. Wind chill values as low as 21 below.

On Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow showers. Not as cold with highs around 17. Wind chill values as low as 18 below. — increasing to wind chill values as low as 3 below in the afternoon.

This business heats up

Tim Clayton, owner of Clayton’s Heating & Air Conditioning on Midlothian Boulevard, said extremely cold days tend to make his phone ring. “When it gets extremely cold like this, the service end really picks up because you’re taxing the equipment so much,” he said. “The phones definitely start to come off the hook on days like [Thursday].”

Clayton said people tend to overreact when the temperature drops so far. He said companies generally set thermostats to operate at 70 degrees on a zero degree day. If the temperature drops below zero, it is noticeable in a house’s temperature. For example, if it is five degrees below zero, the thermostat will register 65. He said people often don’t understand the system and call because of it.

“We don’t want them to panic,” he said. “We tell them to pay attention to their thermostat to see if it drops maybe 5 degrees from where it should be.”

Clayton said on a normal business day, he can receive as many as 20 service calls. But on bitter cold days, call volume can increase to 50 to 70 calls. He added the influx in service calls is stressful on the business side.

“We keep five full-time service guys on call 24 hours a day,” he said. “But each of the five guys can only do one call at a time.”

The best way to ensure an efficient heating system is to make sure it is running properly, Clayton said. He said heating systems should be inspected once a year, and older models should be inspected more thoroughly. He added sometimes the easiest preventive measure is often overlooked.

“Keep your filters clean,” he said. “That’s probably what 99 percent of the problems are when we go out for service calls is dirty filters.”

He said normal filters should be replaced once a month and high efficiency boxed filters should be replaced every six-to-nine months.