City of Warner Robins helps local church open warming shelter

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The City of Warner Robins wants to help its homeless population prepare for any cold weather, coming within the next two months.

The Table at First Christian Church in Warner Robins is now open as a warming center. From now until the end of February it’s open to anyone needing to get off of the streets and it can house more than sixty residents.

“The community is coming together to support an effort that is bigger than this church, or anything else we’ve got right now. This is an area of ministry we’ve been interested in for over a year, it’s gradually starting to come together for us as a congregation but being able to plug into the Mayor’s larger coalition on homelessness is really paying off.” said warming center director Steven Kidd.

The Table started this project last year on a much smaller scale. At a meeting Monday, the center acquired bunk beds, clean clothes, and basic toiletries with help from the Mayor’s team. Code Enforcement Officer Brian Wise says this is a temporary warming shelter but there is a need for a more permanent establishment.

“There’s anywhere from 150 to probably close to 200 homeless people here in Warner Robins. It’s hard to see but with me being in Code Enforcement I deal with them every day and you see it.” explained Wise.

Officer Wise also said that the city has spearheaded an operation to acquire a permanent building to open as an established warming center. Until that happens, the Table Warming Center is doing what it can to fill the community’s needs.

“They can volunteer their time,” Kidd went on to explain “Or making donations are probably the two easiest things to do. You can go to the Facebook page and look up what we can do but the main thing is just to pray for us and offer your support.”

The center is in need of volunteers and donations. If you can help, call the center at 478-923-1536 or visit their Facebook page here.