Egan Warming Center

The Caldera Songwriters present their second annual benefit concert for the Egan Warming Center, on Friday December 20th at Tsunami Books in Eugene. Two of the many performers that evening, Beth Wood and John Shipe, stopped by the KLCC studios to play a few songs, and talk about the Caldera group and how the concert will assist the homeless served by the Egan Warming Center.

  The Egan Warming Center in Eugene / Springfield has been open to homeless people seeking shelter from the frigid cold for the past 8 nights. They're not planning to open Wednesday night because the low is not expected to dip below 30.

More than 300 people volunteer their time to help operate the Egan Warming Centers. Program Director Doug Bales:

Eugene's Egan Warming Center will open Tuesday night. With temperatures forecast to drop into the teens, the agency is bracing for a long activation. But there's concern it might not be able to accommodate everyone.

Egan Warming Center is a network of churches that open their doors to homeless people on cold winter nights. St. Vincent de Paul operates the center. Executive Director Terry McDonald says they're looking for additional places-- especially at the end of the week.

The Egan Warming Center had to scramble Thursday to find another site. With temperatures below freezing the shelter was overwhelmed, but the vacant Parker Elementary opened its doors.

Only twice over the past five years has the Egan Center needed to move so quickly to find another place for the homeless people seeking refuge from the cold. Thursday night, one of their usual shelters was unavailable. Program Director Doug Bales says the elementary school was found through a group effort.