HEAT WAVE | Salvation Army in Warren provides cool spot

WARREN

At the Salvation Army on Franklin Street in downtown Warren, about eight men arrived Thursday for the cooling center services provided, some of them new people the staff had not seen before. The service will continue today and possibly Saturday.

They “hung out” watching television, playing table games and consuming cool drinks for an hour or two, then some got on the air conditioned Western Reserve Transit Authority bus nearby, said Ruth Cline, Salvation Army office assistant.

Many of the men are homeless, but the cooling center is for “whoever,” she said. It opened at 8:30 a.m. and continues to 3:30 p.m., but most of the people who came in for air-conditioned cooling Thursday came in the afternoon.

Many also left there for lunch at the nearby Trumbull County Take Flight soup kitchen at 222 E. Market St., which serves food from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It is across from the Veteran”s Service Commission’s new offices on East Market.

Take Flight has been open at that location since March 2018, said Joy Heiens of Bristol, who is in charge of the kitchen.