The North Lake Tahoe and Truckee region is famous for extreme, long, and high snow winters. Lesser known is that our region faces increasing wealth disparity and a housing crisis. In one community 35% of the population lives below the poverty line, and many of our available homes are substandard and lack insulation against the elements. Still, until last year there was no place for our homeless neighbors to seek safety and warmth except in jail or the hospital. Over the years, tragic deaths have needlessly occurred in the forests, in cars, and in public places such as the post office. Our community can no longer accept this needless loss of life.

Last winter, the Cold Weather Emergency Warming Center (EWC) opened in Truckee, CA. From December 24, 2015, through April 30, 2016, the EWC provided our homeless neighbors a safe, warm, dry place to stay on the most severe weather nights. These are people whose temporary or permanent sleeping arrangements are typically outdoors or in their cars often due to seasonal unemployment, mental illness, addiction, lack of affordable housing, or lack of support networks.

The EWC was open a total of 25 nights last winter which helped 24 individual guests, 4 dogs, and a family of 4 stay safe and warm when temperatures fell below 15 degrees or weather was otherwise classified as severe. With guests often relying on the EWC more often than once, there was a total of 115 overnight stays.

EWC volunteers seek to do more than provide a safe night's stay. They get to know our guests by sharing warm meals, enjoying movies, or playing games. In time, the stories come out.

One guest, Joel, stayed with us nearly every night we were open. At first, he claimed this was the lifestyle he wanted. After about 10 nights, he admitted that he truly did want a job and a roof over his head, but was facing medical challenges that he couldn't overcome alone. We helped him find a doctor, and he soon found a job. While he's still homeless, he is moving towards the life he envisions for himself.

Another guest, Jon, was living outside, struggling with severe mental illness and addiction. He stayed with us most nights we were open, but also spent many nights in jail. After getting to know him and earning his trust, we connected him with his estranged sister. He committed to completing a detox and mental health program before going to live with her.

Our small operation has been supported by about 150 volunteers from different parts of the community. They dedicated over 850 hours of time, provided meals and donated supplies and finances to help make this project a true success.

By working closely with the human services agencies and the counties in our region, we are connecting impoverished neighbors with the assistance they need to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way. In the meantime, and for those community neighbors who are not ready to stay with us, we provide people with what they need to face the elements when we aren't open: base layers, winter coats, sleeping bags, tents,tarps and supplies.

Steering Committee accepting the 2016 Nevada County Community Partner Award