LEXINGTON, Ky. — With winter weather barreling through the Bluegrass state, homeless shelters are starting to fill up quickly.
Ginny Ramsey, the Director and Co-Founder of the Catholic Action Center, is working to find warm shelter for anyone who may be living on the streets.
“This polar vortex is coming. We made the decision that we can't just continue without being able to reach out to our brothers and sisters in the camps, and those who really do stay outdoors all year long,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey said the Compassion Caravan goes around town delivering hand warmers, warm soup and sandwiches and even sleeping bags to those outside. But with these next few days of winter weather coming through, it may not be enough to keep them warm.
“All the hand warmers in the world and all the sleeping bags are not going to keep a lot of these people safe when the temperatures are as dramatic as they're going to be,” Ramsey said.
The Catholic Action Center has partnered with several different motels in the area to help provide shelter during these next few weeks, Ramsey said they have many people already filling up some of the rooms.
“We already have many people in motels that we will keep in there for probably till mid February or a little bit after,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey said working with these motels was not cheap, and is asking the Lexington community to come together during these tough times to help those community members in need through donations.
“We’ve had to turn to the community and say we need help. This is going to cost tens of thousands of dollars, you know, even just for two and a half weeks. We're not about money, we're always about people's hands and hearts and making donations of items,” Ramsey said.