BANGOR, Maine — As Tuesday’s snowstorm swirled outside, dozens of people without a place to go took refuge in Bangor’s homeless shelters, playing cards, watching television and doing whatever else they could to keep occupied.
Dennis Marble, director of Bangor Area Homeless Shelter on Main Street, said about 35 people were “crammed in” the facility’s day room, chatting, reading and staying warm.
“It’s a shut-in day,” Marble said.
Normally, the day room is relatively quiet during daylight hours. Some residents spend their days walking around town or at the library, others work or go out looking for work, Marble said.
But with many area businesses and institutions shuttered for the storm, there were few places to go and even less to do.
“It’s hard; you’ve got a lot of folks already predisposed to being stressed,” and that can be exacerbated by being in close quarters all day, Marble said.
As night closed in, Marble said he expected about 40 people to stay at the shelter overnight, including at least a couple that will need to sleep on cots set up in the TV room. The shelter’s website says it has a capacity of 38 with room for four extra cots in inclement weather.
Bruce Hews, supervisor of Hope House, a shelter run by Penobscot Community Health Care, said Tuesday afternoon he expected about 70 people to stay at the shelter overnight. There are 55 beds at the Indiana Avenue facility. Mats will be placed on the cafeteria floor to handle the extra guests. Normally, only 10 or 20 of those people would stay at the shelter during the day. But during the storm, most everyone expecting to stay the night showed up very early.
Bangor police officers keep an eye out while on patrols for anyone who might need shelter from cold or severe weather. Hews and Marble said they collaborate with police and other area organizations to ensure everyone has shelter and the services they need.
On Wednesday night, Hews and a group of about 10 other shelter officials will comb areas around the city in search of people sleeping or staying outside.
It’s part of MaineHousing’s annual Point In Time Survey, a statewide effort to find people sleeping outside in late January, interview them to find out how long and why they’re homeless, and offer them help, according to Hews.
Hews said only one or two people have been found in recent years, but “the way things are looking this year, there might be more than usual.”
The storm may have driven some people who might otherwise sleep outside even in the winter months to find shelter with friends or family, he added.
“All of us are doing what we can to make sure there’s no one stuck outside on a days like this,” Hews said.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter @nmccrea213.