Not everyone had the option to hunker down in the air conditioning as temperatures edged past 115 this week.
That's why Sister Jose Women's Center needs some help this summer.
In April, the shelter moved out of a 750-square-foot house and opened in a 9,000-square-foot building at 1050 S. Park Ave. The new digs mean that for the first time, the shelter is letting homeless women stay the night during the summer. Usually, the overnight program only operates in winter months.
"It's surreal to make the leap from the 18th Street house to this," says Penny Buckley, the operations coordinator for the center. "It's like going from a slum to the Taj Mahal. It's bright and friendly and peaceful, and there's space for everybody."
With temperatures soaring this past week, about 70 women took advantage of the center at some point each day, says Jean Fedigan, the executive director of the center.
At night, the shelter can give as many as 35 women a safe place to sleep, but it needs volunteers to make that happen, both in three-hour shifts during the day and overnight.
"The extreme heat started a week ago, and I just couldn't stand it," Fedigan says. "We opened for nights, and during the summer we will try to stay open through the heat of the summer."
This area can hold as many as 35 cots.
Daytime volunteers work in the kitchen, the laundry room, reception and donations. Overnight volunteers spend the night with the ladies, starting with dinner around 5:30 p.m. and breakfast following an early morning wake-up call.
"We're just present with them until the next morning," Fedigan says. Some volunteers "take a nap, but some don't sleep at all. All of the women, however, go to sleep. I always laugh, because I like staying the night, and I'm the only one awake at 8:30 p.m."
The next new volunteer orientation is 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, July 15.
If volunteering isn't a possibility, the center needs donations. Especially new panties and basics.
On Friday, the center posted on Facebook a call for body wash, cereal, coffee, liquid laundry detergent, toilet paper and other basics after a week of overnights.
Think food staples such as pasta or canned goods and sunscreen, hats, summer clothing and bandannas or kerchiefs that can be dipped in water and then used to keep cool.
For the past few years, Michelle Fraley has rallied friends to put together goody bags for the ladies in the winter and the summer. She says she stuffs the summer bags with sunglasses, deodorant, chap stick, water bottles and other necessities.
Michelle Fraley dropped these bags off at the center last week.
You can also donate quality walking shoes. Not your worn out sneakers.
"Just think about this: If you're walking a lot and the pavement is really hot, it literally burns the soles of the shoes after a while..." Fedigan says. "Good walking shoes are always good."
Judi Woolf, 63, volunteers at Sister Jose's whenever they need help. She says the center saved her life.
Woolf, retired, found herself homeless at the beginning of the year when her living arrangements fell apart.
In those cold winter months, most other shelters were full. But not Sister Jose's. Woolf says she got the last spot.
When she found a place she could afford, she continued to return to the center a few months later, this time as a volunteer. Staying at the center gave her the time she needed to get back on her feet.
"When in there, I was shocked and amazed at the need," she says. "Some of them are like me, with a bad living situation and they got kicked out. Others have no resources at all."
She knows many of the guests who stay at the center from her own days on the streets. She calls herself their "go-to gal" once they arrive.
"It's a community," she says. "We want them to know we are here to help."
In the front room, the women can lounge and eat. Rooms off of this area provide quiet spaces for resting and sleeping.
You too can help a sister out by volunteering or taking donations to the center at 1050 S. Park Ave. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Or you can visit srjosewomensshelter.org or call 909-3905.
