With frigid nighttime temps, Treasure Valley shelters accommodating lots of guests
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Eric Fink reports on the number of homeless in the Treasure Valley seeking shelter to escape the cold. Video by IdahoOnYourSide.com
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Boise's David Powell and his wife are married 27 years. They've been homeless since 2010.
As 2013 begins, Powell is unsure where he'll sleep Tuesday night, but unlike some of the others who walk the streets, he is thankful he'll rest indoors at the City of Trees River of Life shelter.
"Sometimes I have a bed, sometimes I don't," Powell said. Sometimes I sleep on the floor, but at least it's in, out of the weather. I'm not sleeping in an alley covered up with a piece of cardboard."
David's wife stays at City Light, a shelter home to about 100 women and their kids in downtown Boise. In the winter months and on the holidays that number often rises.
"During the day the cold makes it really hard for our ladies because there aren't a lot of places for them to go," City Light guest services manager Julie Jones said. "Today was hard with no school for the kids to be in, businesses closed and the library, things like that."
Even if City Light does not have a bed available for someone, the shelter never turn anybody away. Jones says City Light and other Boise Rescue Mission shelters throughout the valley are equipped with plenty of mats to accommodate every person looking for a warm place to stay year-round.
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