Yesterday afternoon, Washington County Sheriff Claude Combs said he was prepared to activate emergency shelters in the county to accept those who were homeless or in case of power outages and had no heat at their homes.
Lawrence County has taken the concept to a different level and opened a warming center for men at the Salvation Army on K Street.
It opens today. 
The center will allow men who don’t have a warm place to sleep to enter the facility between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
If no one comes between those hours the center will close for the night. A sign will be posted with information about other options for anyone that shows up after 8 p.m.
Men staying at the facility will receive two meals provided by Bertha’s Mission, have access to showers and a warm place to sleep.
The center will be open seven days a week during the winter months.
The project is sponsored by the Bedford and Mitchell Ministerial Associations
