The Jefferson Interfaith Action Coalition will open a warming shelter in Port Townsend on Feb. 16 at 1433 West Sims Way.

The site will be open for three months, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. seven days a week. The OlyCAP winter shelter has been open 24 hours a day since Feb. 2. Once overnight temperatures return to normal, the shelter will return to its regular winter hours of 4 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The new warming shelter will act as a place for people to stay indoors in the morning, when the OlyCAP shelter is closed for the day.

Julia Cochrane, a member of the Quimper Universalist Unitarian Church, originally brought the idea to the coalition.

“Once the Boiler Room closed, it was obvious there was going to be the problem of where do the homeless go now,” Cochrane said. “People used to go there when the shelter closed at 8 in the morning.”

One of the reasons the Boiler Room closed was because it had been acting as a day shelter for adults. It was originally intended as a place for youth.

“Once it closed, everyone was like, well what are we going to do for the youth?” Cochrane said. “And I thought, first we need to solve the other half of the problem. I’m part of the Jefferson Interfaith Action Coalition, which originally gelled around the whole issue of immigration and sanctuary churches. So I brought it to that group and voila — magic happened.”

Cochrane led the project with Elisabeth Heiner and Pastor Paul Heins from the First Presbyterian Church in Port Townsend.

Working with COAST and OlyCAP, the warming shelter will be modeled off the current homeless shelter at the American Legion. There will be one employee and one volunteer working each shift at the Warming Center. The employees will be hired by First Presbyterian Church and will be monitors who have worked for the OlyCAP shelter before, said Heiner.

Since it is not an overnight shelter, the space will be equipped only with chairs and tables.

“We’re going to have Wi-Fi and coffee, and we’re looking for a couple of laptops so people can get online and do business,” Heiner said.

Located next to DK Nails and across the street from the Shell gas station on Sims Way, the warming shelter will be near service providers such as Dove House, Jefferson County Health Care, OlyCAP and Discovery Behavioral Health.

“It’s been kind of an adventure for us because we started from scratch finding a place,” Heins said. “We tested every avenue that we could and eventually we came to focus on this opportunity as an open space. It really seemed to fit our needs.”

Heins said the owner of the building has been cooperative throughout the process, and that communities of faith from across Jefferson County have helped with fundraising for the lease.

“Someone did a yoga fundraiser for it at Unity, people are donating chairs from their churches that they don’t use anymore, coffee pots and just really coming together, which is beautiful,” Heiner said. “There are about seven or eight churches involved, and some involved who aren’t part of a church.”

The opening of the shelter will come just more than a week after a homeless woman died from hypothermia in Port Townsend.

Although the warming shelter, which will be open only in the mornings, might not have helped in that situation, Cochrane said she hopes opening it will spark more action in the community to deal with homelessness and housing.

“Until we have a housing-first model, this is going to continue,” Cochrane said. “The homeless shelter that we have has its limitations in space.”

Cochrane said the warming shelter will be open for three months. But if there is a greater need in the coming year, it could continue in the future, Heins said.

“Our intention from the start was just to meet this immediate need,” Heins said. “I think it becomes clearer and clearer that we have a human obligation and a moral obligation to deal with human needs like homelessness.”

Heins said it was inspiring for the interfaith community to come together to create the warming shelter.

The Jefferson Interfaith Action Coalition have received a multitude of donations and volunteers to help out, but still more are needed.

“It’s a complex problem, and the solutions aren’t always clear, and the paths to it are sometimes controversial in taking one path or another,” Heins said. “But at some point we just have to put our shoulders together and lock arms and work together to create solutions. Because when someone dies, and there are people out there with no place to go, we’ve got to do something.”

To donate, volunteer or learn more about the warming shelter, visit the Port Townsend First Presbyterian Church website or call Julia Cochrane at 360-821-1926.