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Health & Fitness

Warming Center Open: Remember the Homeless This Holiday Season

Cold Nights are here, especially if you are homeless!

Was it cold last night? Most of us are lucky to have heated homes to stay warm because many do not. In Middletown is the Nightly Warming Center, December Through March.

St. Vincent DePaul Middletown with downtown churches have a nightly warming center throughout the winter for the city's homeless people. The warming center will be open nightly from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. Each location will provide an area for seating and hot beverages, and sometimes snacks.

St. Vincent de Paul Director Ron Krom said he is.

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"We don't consider it a shelter," Krom said. " We are expecting about 15 to 20 people a night, we don't provide beds or meals. It is a place for people to be safe and out of the cold. We were worried people might freeze to death outside."

First Baptist Church will host it through the end of December, the Church of the Holy Trinity will host during January, South Congregational will host during February and First United Methodist will host the warming center in March. This year, St. Vincent de Paul received a $10,000 grant from the city health department and got donations from Middlesex Hospital, St. Pius X Church, River Valley Services, Seasons Federal Credit Union and the Liberty Bank Foundation.

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December 21st: NATIONAL HOMELESS PERSON'S MEMORIAL DAY! Please come out and support our community's most vulnerable residents by attending the Middletown event for National Homeless person's memorial day. St. Vincent DePaul and the Community Health Center will be holding a Memorial Service & Candlelight Vigil to remember the homeless individuals who have died in our county this year.

The event will take place at the Church of Holy Trinity 381 Main Street Middletown, CT 06457 on 4PM Friday, December 21, 2012, the First Day of Winter & Longest Night of the Year. Help us fight to end homelessness in our through acknowledgement, generosity, and political advocacy. The Memorial asks us to remember that: Health care is a human right. Housing is a human right. Physical safety is a human right.

Remember our neighbors and friends who have died without homes. Remember why they died. For more information, or to help out, please see contact information below:
 Asya Tsarkova at the Community Health Center, Inc. TsarkoA@chc1.com (860) 224-3642 ext. 5551 or Lydia Brewster at St. Vincent De Paul, lydia@svdmiddletown.org (860) 344-0097 ext. 18.

Also Click For: The Amazing Challenge Update and Click for a huge list of December Social Justice Newsletter updates

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