Street outreach teams have been urging homeless individuals to seek shelter in the wake of winter storms that have brought freezing temperatures to the metro area.
The teams’ messaging seems to be working, said Dan Straughan, executive director of the Oklahoma City Homeless Alliance.
Monday, he said, outreach teams have been distributing flyers with a list of shelters and warming station locations. They were also sharing information about frostbite and hypothermia.
Straughan said, most of all, team members are telling people that the current winter storms are vastly different from storms many of the homeless may have experienced in the past.
“A lot of what they are saying is ‘Look, I know you've had winter
The Salvation Army of Central Oklahoma will be offering winter shelter for women, including women with children, as the state braces for winter storms.
The shelter for women and women with children will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, leaders of the faith-based nonprofit said Saturday.
Women are advised to enter the shelter using the southwest residential services entrance at the Salvation Army complex at 1001 N Pennsylvania Ave.
"The Salvation Army is ready to take in this vulnerable population as we expect deadly temperatures in the coming days," Maj. Stephen Ellis, area commander, said in a news release.
With in-person services suspended in many local churches, religious leaders have found creative ways to observe Ash Wednesday and Lent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral's efforts are literally in the bag.
The church, led by Dean Katie Churchwell, is offering parishioners "Holy Lent Bags," which include items that individuals and families need to observe the Lenten season at home. The church, 127 NW 7, is distributing the bags in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday on Wednesday.
"Our goal with the Holy Lent Bags is that people will have a holy Lent, and a global pandemic doesn't necessarily have to get in the way of that, regardless of whether people feel comfortable doing things in person,"
Bill Barnett, a prominent Oklahoma Baptists pastor and Native American ministry leader, died on Feb. 5 of COVID-19. He was 87.
Barnett was founding senior pastor of Indian Nations Baptist Church in Seminole and a former first vice president of Oklahoma Baptists, also known as the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
"We are thankful to have been a part of his amazing life; although we are saddened, we find comfort in the hope that God instilled within us that we will be together again," Barnett's family said in a social media post. "Let us be joyful as we remember the many blessings he brought to all of us as a man of God called to do his work. 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
A northeast Oklahoma City church will distribute free food boxes Saturday and Monday, despite frigid temperatures forecast for the region.
The Rev. Derrick Scobey, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, said his church is committed to distributing food to families in need no matter the weather.
The preacher said he had learned that the church would not be part of a fifth phase of food distribution planned for February and immediately called the offices of Gov. Kevin Stitt and U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice to see if the elected leaders could find out why the church might have been bypassed.
"I was worried because the need is still here," Scobey said.