‘Forgotten.’ Organization offers sole ‘cooling station’ for Lexington’s homeless

When COVID-19 shut down libraries, public buildings and local community centers, it also shut out the homeless.

With temperatures rising and buildings still closed, the homeless population of Lexington needed somewhere to escape the summer heat. Starting Monday, Lighthouse Ministries stepped up as a “cooling center” for those in need Monday through Saturdays from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Lighthouse Ministries has served meals and provided other services to the homeless for years. When Tay Henderson, executive director, was asked if the organization could also provide a cooling center for the homeless, she was happy to oblige.

The homeless “have just kinda been forgotten,” Henderson said. “Everything’s closed down, so where are they gonna go? . . . It just made sense.”

Normally, the homeless can use public buildings like libraries and community centers in addition to city-designated “cooling centers” for an air-conditioned respite during the hot summer months. But with the current pandemic, 5th District Councilman Bill Farmer said that the city hasn’t been able to provide the services.

After hearing about Lighthouse Ministries’ willingness to help, Farmer said he brought the idea to fund its cooling center to the city council. On July 9, the council agreed to provide $2,500 for volunteers, meals and personal protection equipment needs, which Farmer said should last about eight weeks.

Henderson said that the cooling center’s capacity when following social distancing guidelines, is 30 people at a time. She has people record the time when they sign in, so that if the center backs up, those who have been there longest will be the first to give up their spots.

However, Henderson and Farmer both acknowledged that the current setup isn’t sufficient for the growing homeless population. Farmer said that he is working on adding a few more cooling centers.

“We’re gonna have to have room for more because I think the whole population is stressed out there,” he said. “At some point, you gotta be indoors.”

Ginny Ramsey of the Catholic Action Center has provided most of the hand sanitizer, cleaner, face masks and water bottles needed to keep the cooling center running safely, Henderson said. To follow COVID regulations, she said the organization is requiring masks, taking everyone’s temperature, spacing out chairs and providing hand sanitizer and masks.

Currently, lunch and dinner meals are being served in a line outside of the building to comply with social distancing rules. Henderson said Lighthouse Ministries has seen the number of people served per meal increase by 74% since COVID began, from about 90 to 150 to 170.

“If we weren’t feeding, where were they going to eat?” she said.

To make matters worse, the annual post office food drive, which typically brings in 10,000 pounds of canned goods for Lighthouse Ministries, was canceled this year. Henderson said it is in great need of any help people can provide.

Those who wish to donate food, time or money to Lighthouse Ministries can visit its website or call 859-259-3434 for more information or drop off canned food and supplies at 190 Spruce Street.