Since it began in 2010, Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter has saved hundreds of people from freezing temperatures.

But the group’s leader said Monday that it was meant as a supplement, not a substitute, for city and county government shelters. Marion Schottelkorb, executive director of the rotating shelter organization, said local governments have a responsibility to prevent the most vulnerable residents from freezing to death.

“There is a responsibility. It’s just not recognized at this time,” she said after a meeting at Handley Library that aimed to increase community support for the group known as WATTS. “I don’t think WATTS was ever intended to be a substitute. WATTS ministry was born out of the need because it wasn’t happening anywhere else and people were freezing in the streets.”

Kris Tierney, Frederick County administrator, couldn’t be reached after the Monday night meeting, but Lynn Miller, Winchester emergency management coordinator, said the city would open a temporary emergency shelter if needed.

Miller said the Active Learning Center at Jim Barnett Park, which could accommodate 200 to 300 people, would be used. Usage could occur during extremely frigid weather, a widespread power outage, a large fire or during a large hazardous materials release. Miller, hired in 1971, said the city has opened emergency shelters about six times since 1980, although he couldn’t remember the last time.

He said a shelter wasn’t opened during the cold spell in the last week of December and first week of January when temperatures sometimes dropped into single digits because there wasn’t enough demand. He said the needs of five or six people who sought shelter were addressed by the Winchester office of the Virginia Department of Social Services.

“If there is a demand, we’re going to do the best we can to take care of the people in our community. That’s why we’re here,” Miller said. “We’re certainly going to do everything that we can to take care of all the people in our community.”

It is unclear how many homeless people there are in Fredrick County and Winchester, but there are 115 emergency spots in the area. WATTS provides 35 beds. The Salvation Army provides 48 and the Winchester Rescue Mission provides 32.

WATTS, which served about 95 people during the winter of 2016-17, operates from November through March at 17 churches and three Ruritan National Clubs, including the Clarke County Ruritan Fairgrounds.

Each shelter houses people for a week, and the program runs 20 weeks. However, Schottelkorb told the approximately 90 people at the meeting that WATTS, a nonprofit group, operates year-round. It has a $134,000 annual budget and Schottelkorb is the only paid employee.

She said the group needs to do a better job of promoting itself to recruit more volunteers. Schottelkorb noted volunteers don’t have to belong to a church or organized religion to participate and are desperately needed.

“We need you year-round. We have opportunities for you year-round,” she said. “And all of those needs and opportunities are very, very important if we are going to continue what we do well: save lives.”

Last Thursday our church helped to provide shelter and food for the homeless in the surrounding area through the WATTS ministry. I appreciate all those who volunteered their time.

My part was to spend the night. Basically I was to be a warm body, an extra layer of security. My abilities are limited, but a warm body, that I can do. I sleep poorly at home in my own bed, much less on a cot with heat pipes banging and spotlights on all night.

Sleep never happened. I watched each hour pass. The night seemed long. Finally 6:00 came and it was time for everyone to wake up, eat breakfast, grab a bag of sandwiches, then board an old school bus to travel back to Winchester to be dropped off at C-CAP.

I was asked to ride back on the bus. Again, all I needed to do was to be an extra body, an additional layer of security.

My head was throbbing. I was tired. I wanted to be home, take a shower and go to bed. Riding back that cold morning there was an eerie quiet, a depressing feel. There were 35 homeless, a bus driver, and myself in the front seat.

There were people with plastic bags of stuff, wearing layers of old clothes with bodies that needed to be bathed. Many looked older than their actual age. Their bodies were beat up by life.

As I watched each hobble off the bus, one by one, I wondered what brought each to this world of homelessness. Was it mental illness, drug addiction, a criminal record by choice, or a combination of each of these?

Now at our destination for drop-off at the C-CAP building, it was 15 degrees with an impending blizzard to start later that day. About half went inside where it was warm and sat on rows of benches. A TV provided continuous coverage of the coming blizzard. About half stayed outside to smoke. If I lived in their world I might take up smoking. People shuffled around or sat in silence.

I stood waiting for my ride to take me back to Berryville, my home, my bed, my world. Finally after a long, short wait of about 15 minutes, my ride arrived. An amazing, new 2016 red pickup pulled up.

In the moment it took me to step off the pavement up into that pickup, I left one world for a different one. Leather heated seats, surround sound, big and wide, the smell of new, a smooth ride, this pickup was amazing. The driver was educated, a professional and wealthy. Now there was a conversation. I enjoyed the talk.

It felt good to be home, to see my wife, to be in my bed. My OCD kicked in, I tried to work it all out in my mind. Thirty-five to 50 homeless in an area of 125,000 people. A low percentage. That’s encouraging.

You ask how was I changed by this experience. I don’t know. Maybe not at all. Life is complex. People are complicated. This I do know for certain: hundreds of people gave and will give of their time, money and food so that 35 people are warm, fed and safe during the 17 coldest weeks of the year.

By DAN STANLEY, pastor at Berryville Baptist Church.