A new warming center in Cache Valley is looking for volunteer help ahead of its December opening.
The William A. Burnard Warming Center, founded by Nicole Burnard, is aiming to be Cache Valley’s first emergency crisis response warming center for homeless people in northern Utah. Burnard says she was inspired to open the center after finding about eight people sleeping in their cars in single-digit temperatures earlier this year.
Burnard decided to name the center after her grandfather’s memory, who died by suicide in 2003 after a string of unfortunate things led to him living out of his car. Wanting to help prevent similar situations, Burnard is opening the shelter to save lives during the winter months and help vulnerable community members.
Volunteer help will be drastically needed to keep the center open every night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. between mid-December to late-March. The center will be ran out of St. John’s Episcopal Church in December and January and then at the Cache Valley Veterans Center in February and March.
