As temperatures dropped to the low 30s on Friday, local agencies and cities in the Upper Valley moved quickly to assist vulnerable residents with little to no means of staying warm.
The Hidalgo County Community Service Agency distributed space heaters to families enduring the inclement weather over the weekend.
Families were able to apply for the space heaters online until around noon Friday, when the county became inundated with applications, according to CSA Director Jaime Longoria.
“We didn’t have a way of distinguishing need and gathering the required documents — people were having trouble uploading stuff,” Longoria said. “It was too difficult to do that, so what we did was we went to what we’ve done in the past, which is to do strictly in-person.”
Individuals who had already filled out applications for the heaters online were notified to go to the agency, located at 2524 N. Closner Blvd. in Edinburg. However, due to limited supply, there was no guarantee that space heaters would still be available.
The CSA had roughly 150 space heaters to distribute, and about half of those had already been distributed by noon. The agency was also distributing a limited number of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.
Longoria said that the CSA hoped to be able to distribute more space heaters, but issues stemming from the supply chain limited the number of space heaters that the agency was able to acquire and distribute.
“We, just like the rest of the world, have had issues with the supply chain,” Longoria said. “Our suppliers are telling us we can only purchase 20 at a time, so we’ve had difficulty finding them — even locally. We try to purchase them locally through some of the big box stores, and we’ve been limited in terms of numbers of actual units that we can purchase at one time.”
The space heaters that the CSA were able to purchase required family members to fill out applications in person. Longoria said that the application process was necessary for a number of reasons. Primarily, there is a federal statute that requires the county to collect applications. The other reason is that the applications help the county identify the needs of families going forward.
“If a family is struggling to buy a heater, chances are that 25 days from now they’re going to struggle to pay that electric bill — especially the vulnerable families,” Longoria said. “We want to make sure that we’ve gathered enough information to at least start the process of helping them with their electric bill as well.”
The Salvation Army of McAllen was also doing its part to provide some respite from the freezing temperatures.
The Salvation Army, located at 1600 N. 23rd St. in McAllen, is the only permanent shelter in the county, according to Mario Quintanilla, volunteer public relations and special events coordinator.
With the inclement weather, the shelter’s hours were expanded to meet the needs of the community.
“We were able to pretty much open our shelter for individuals who are seeking refuge from the cold,” Quintanilla said. “The shelter typically would have their intake from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Because of the inclement weather, we have an inclement weather policy. Pretty much whenever (the temperature) drops below 50, we extend the intake hours.”
The inclement weather policy increases the hourly intake to 3 p.m to 8 a.m. On weekends, the shelter’s intake hours are from 1 p.m. to 8 a.m. Anyone in need of shelter will be able to visit the Salvation Army any time throughout the night for as long as the temperature remains below 50 degrees.
Anyone who plans to stay at the shelter is encouraged to bring along any medication that they may need.
Quintanilla said that the shelter does not require visitors to present a form of identification, but it is recommended for individuals who do plan to stay after the inclement weather policy expires.
The shelter can accommodate 60 people under normal circumstances. However, the shelter was able to open an overflow shelter on the property providing space for an additional 60 people.
At the time of the interview, Quintanilla said there were 30 people staying at the shelter.
The city of Edinburg also provided shelter Thursday and Friday evening.
According to city spokesperson Ashly Custer, the city opened the Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library, located at 1906 S. Closner Blvd., to anyone in need of shelter — not only Edinburg residents.
“Basically what we’re doing is we’re keeping them in pods,” Custer said. “There are 10 pods, and each pod can fit three to four people. We just want to make sure that we’re keeping families together, but there’s also distancing because we’re trying to take as many precautions as we can as far as COVID is concerned.”
The warming center’s hours of intake were extended until noon Saturday. Visitors will have access to the library’s Wi-Fi and a place to charge their electronic devices; however, they are encouraged to bring their own bedding, medication, non-perishable food and snacks.
“If people need a place to stay — say they’re in-county or wherever it may be — they can come too,” Custer said. “We’re not going to turn people away if they need somewhere to go.”
