NOTE: Due to covid-19 and the inherent risk in congregate settings, the Winter Warming Centers will not be operating in 2020-21. We very much regret this development and expect the WWCs to return in December of 2021. In the meantime, our staff and volunteers are committed to keeping safe as many of our clients as possible through our partnering efforts with Project Roomkey and the Homekey Program.

The Winter Warming Centers were birthed in 2018 as an innovative partnership among a dozen Mercy Coalition churches, the City of West Sacramento, Yolo County, other partner nonprofits, and hundreds of community volunteers. From December to mid-March, individuals experiencing homelessness are bussed each evening to one of multiple host church sites. There they are met with a warm meal, a warm place to sleep for the evening, and a warm group of staff and volunteers intent on creating a supportive community around our most vulnerable friends.

In their first two seasons of operation (including the covid-shortened 2019-20 schedule), the WWCs logged 1,405 individual guest stays over 147 nights, with a total of three law-enforcement calls and zero neighbor complaints.  

The Warming Centers have steadily added services such as a mobile shower trailer, weekly medical visits from our partners at Communicare healthcare, laundry service for guests, Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and regular visits from a mobile clothes closet and hair stylists. Transportation is provided via bus each evening and morning by our partners at Shores of Hope.

By far, the most indelible image of the Winter Warming Centers is the nightly Family Table. Instead of serving dinner to our guests ‘soup-line’ style, we take joy in serving them restaurant-style after inviting them to be seated at the table. Staff and volunteers then join the guests for dinner, including a sharing of “Highlight of the Day” all around the table. Victories are celebrated, difficulties are felt and supported, and every voice is given acknowledgement and validity. For workers and guests alike, it creates a humbling and equitable space of joy and shared life together.