The Lehighton Cold Weather Station, located in the basement of the former Ebenezer United Methodist Church at Third and South streets in Lehighton, is a place for the homeless to seek shelter during frigid winter temperatures.

Ordinarily, whenever the temperature goes to 25 degrees or lower, the shelter is open from 5:30 p.m. until 10 a.m. the following day.

But because of the bitter cold conditions, the station was open 24 hours this week.

The shelter is operated by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a ministry of SS. Peter & Paul Catholic Church, Lehighton. The St. Vincent de Paul Society was founded for the care of the poor and the homeless.

The Lehighton Cold Weather Station was started in January 2024 to provide a safe haven for homeless during the cold temperatures.

“Last January, one of our member actually found a woman living in her car, here in Lehighton, just days before the cold weather came,” said volunteer Nancy Berchtold of Penn Forest Township. “He came to the (St. Vincent de Paul Society) meeting and said, ‘We have to do something.’ I would say in about five days we ended up finding a place; the cots came from (county commissioner) Wayne Nothstein, and we were ready to go.”

The current shelter offers a warm bed and warm dinners and breakfasts. There is an oven that can be used, but so far that volunteers have received donations of hot meals for the guests.

In addition to the meals, people have been donating fresh fruit, drinks and snack foods.

Volunteers have also received clothing, boots and shoes, hand sanitizer, and other items.

The shelter’s most immediate need is volunteers to chaperone those using the shelter. The shift is four hours long and usually there are at least two volunteers on-site.

The station also has professionals, including people in the drug and alcohol, and mental health fields who stop in to help out.

Volunteers try to find out the reasons people are homeless and see what resources are available for them.

“We are like a family here,” Berchtold said. “When we’re not here, we wonder how they are doing, if they are safe. We worry about them.”