Homeless battle the cold weather across Delmarva

DELMARVA – Temperatures plummeted across Delmarva on Sunday forcing people to hunker down and stay warm.

But, for those who don’t have a home cold days like this can often be a little more dangerous.

“You’re walking, I have a bike, but when it’s like with the wind, you can’t fight the wind on a bike,” said Angela Powderly.

“Especially with like someone like us, where we have to limit, we have little bit of money at a time,” said Douglas Cephas.

“You’ve got five dollars, ten dollars here, whatever the case may be, and that’s not a lot of gas especially when it’s cold outside,” said Cephas.

That is why hundreds of people without a place to stay depend on spots like Shepherd’s Office in Georgetown to get off the streets and stay warm on those cold, winter nights.

“We wouldn’t have anywhere to go because there’s nowhere else really for us to go, and it’s hard,” said Powderly.

“Being homeless is you just wake up one morning and you’re in shock, and it’s just really terrible,” said Powderly.

Unfortunately, homeless shelters are not always open and Cephas from Wilmington said he will only know what is available by word of mouth.

“You have to resource and know who’s who and what’s what know where you are at, who has what opened and who doesn’t,” said Cephas.

“It’s about being an information book at that moment,” Cephas said.

So, moving forward the homeless community shared they hope people will look at them a little differently, and have some compassion as they struggle to survive the elements during a hard time in their life.

“Homelessness is not like a drunk sitting on the corner and drinking a beer out of a paper bag,” said Powderly.

“It’s people that had careers and just fell on hard times,” she said.

The Shepard’s Office in Georgetown will be offering coffee and a warm meal for those in need on Monday from 10 AM until 9 PM.