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Dozens of volunteers canvas Boston for homeless people outside as blizzard bears down on the city
“Fortunately, they're not seeing as many people as usual on the street, so that's a good sign that people would have opted to come inside.”
Decades ago, a man was heading to a Pine Street Inn shelter during a snowstorm much like Monday’s nor’easter.
“He was about two blocks away, and he didn’t make it. He fell, and it was frigid cold and snowing, and he wound up dying on the street,” said Barbara Trevisan of Pine Street Inn.
Within days in 1986, she said, Pine Street Inn — the largest homeless services provider in New England — started its outreach program. During Monday’s blizzard, Pine Street Inn’s outreach teams took to the streets in vans with warm blankets, coats, and other supplies to give people rides to shelters.
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Monday’s nor’easter dumped more than 16 inches of snow on Boston, with gusty winds and low visibility. Sunday night, the outreach teams driving vans saw 50 people outside overnight as the blizzard began.
As lashing winds blew Monday, nearly two dozen people with Pine Street Inn canvassed Boston looking to help people who chose to stay outside or to get others to shelter.
“They’re connecting with people. They’re trying to get people to come inside,” Trevisan said. “Fortunately, they’re not seeing as many people as usual on the street, so that’s a good sign that people would have opted to come inside.”
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Pine Street Inn’s four Boston shelters are crowded. With a capacity of 585 beds, the shelters held upwards of 660 people, using cots and and mats to handle the overflow, Sunday night as the blizzard descended.
Nearly 650 people were in shelters Monday, and 53 people were seen on the streets by Pine Street Inn’s outreach team, a spokesperson said.
The shelters will be open 24/7 during the storm, and no one will be turned away, the shelter said. With harsh weather expected to continue through Wednesday, the warming centers will remain open.
The teams have already gained trust with many living on the streets, Trevisan said.
“Hopefully when they do say, ‘the weather is going to be really tough. Please come in,’ that people will be more receptive to that, but it can take a really long time,” Trevisan said. “They’re putting their own lives at risk to be out on a day like today, and they’re just that concerned about the people who may be outside.”
This story was updated to include Monday’s shelter numbers.
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