LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — With snow falling and wind chills below zero, staying indoors can be a matter of safety. But not everyone has that option.
For the past seven years, Essential Blessings has checked on people without stable housing in the Lansing area, and this week’s dangerous cold did not stop the nonprofit from making its rounds.
Week after week, the organization loads wagons with supplies and takes them directly to people living on the streets and in encampments. From basic hygiene products to a hot meal, Michelle Gondal, president and executive director of Essential Blessings, said she and her volunteers focus on people who are unhoused and may be unable or unwilling to go to a warming shelter.
“We’ve gone down into the encampments, and especially in this brutal cold right now, frostbite is a reality, and people wonder why they can’t go to shelters,” says Gondal. “Some have been banned from shelters where they made a mistake. But my opinion, that mistake should not cost them their life in this brutal cold and we need to have a place they can go.”…