####################################################
The Spokesman-Review
Libraries expect more seeking cool spot when temps top 100
KREM
KHQ
KXLY
Range Media
Camp Hope & local orgs erect cooling tent to survive heat wave
####################################################
The Spokesman-Review
By Greg Mason
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
By early Tuesday afternoon, people at the homeless encampment on East Second Avenue and Ray Street in Spokane were building the frame of a large tent designed as a cooling shelter for the hundreds living there.
The tent, like the encampment, is located on land owned by the Washington state Department of Transportation. And while WSDOT is not officially permitting it, the state doesn’t plan to do anything to stop it, given this week’s temperature outlook.
Volunteers begin the assembly of a quonset-style tent across the street from Camp Hope in the East Central area north of Interstate 90, where hundreds of people live in tents on state Department of Transportation land. The tent is intended to be a cooling shelter for those living in tents because predicted temperatures will rise above 100 degrees this week.
JESSE TINSLEY/ THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Temperatures are expected to top 100 degrees this week, prompting the National Weather Service to issue an excessive heat warning for the area until 11 p.m. Saturday.
Known as Camp Hope, the encampment has upwards of 600 people living out of tents and vehicles on a plot of land near Interstate 90. Jewels Helping Hands organized a crew to construct the tent on the other side of East Pacific Avenue, on another WSDOT lot. The tent, large enough for 200 people, will offer fans, misters and shade to keep Camp Hope residents cool into next week, said Executive Director Julie Garcia.
Jewels informed WSDOT on Tuesday morning about the tent, which the nonprofit will run for 12 hours per day exclusively for the inhabitants of Camp Hope. In an email to the Department of Transportation, Garcia said no overnight sleeping or camping in or around the tent will be allowed.
“This direct sun is what kills you,” Garcia said. “In the shade, at least it’s somewhat manageable, but we don’t have enough shade for all of these folks.
Officially, WSDOT is not allowing for the tent to be there just as they are not permitting Camp Hope’s existence, said Joe McHale, communications consultant with the WSDOT Eastern Region.
Still, the state has thus far allowed campers to stay on the site since Spokane does not have enough shelter beds.
With the temperatures the way they are, meanwhile, McHale said WSDOT officials will not stop the cooling tent if that’s what it will take to keep those living in the encampment safe. Even if they did, WSDOT has relied on local law enforcement or code enforcement to address any illegal activity.
“While we don’t want to permit illegal activity, we also realize we want to be humane about the whole situation,” McHale said. “We don’t want the camp there, but we’re not going to stop Jewels from implementing life-saving measures. We don’t want anyone to die on our property.”
Through Saturday, hours are expanded at four libraries that will serve as cooling centers. Other organizations, including the Salvation Army’s Family Resource Center on East Indiana Avenue, are also hosting cooling facilities.
The closest library to the encampment, Liberty Park, is around 1 mile away. The Spokane Transit Authority has said folks who cannot afford bus fare can tell the operator what cooling center they’re headed to for a free ride – something that was not directly expressed to the camp’s inhabitants or Jewels Helping Hands, the nonprofit overseeing the camp, Garcia said.
“If you’re going to set things up for people experiencing homelessness, why are we announcing it on the news? Why are we not telling the service providers?” Garcia said.
The tent will cost Jewels approximately $21,000 to run over the next 10 days between staffing, security, equipment, setup and teardown.
The nonprofit Empire Health Foundation has stepped up to provide the funding needed for the tent. Empire Health President Zeke Smith said the funding comes from the president’s discretionary fund, meaning it’s something he feels is aligned with the organization’s mission, but may not necessarily be tied with any other of the group’s funded initiatives.
Smith, concerned with temperatures beyond just this week, said he hopes to see more local government and community support for the homeless, especially in light of the 20 heat-related deaths across Spokane County during last year’s heat wave.
“It felt like, given the heat that’s coming, we’ve got to do something,” Smith said. “I had some conversations with folks at the city to see if they consider where folks are and try to do something about it, and was not hearing or seeing that that would be possible. I had conversations with Julie Garcia, who indicated they had a tent and they could get it set up. I asked for a budget.”
Garcia said, “We were going to try to do it without this tent because we didn’t have the funding and people were passing out in their tents last night because of heat exhaustion. We knew we had to do something. Zeke said he would try to do everything he can.”
While Jewels has two tents, Garcia said the nonprofit only has the funding at the moment to staff and operate one.
And while the nonprofit has received support from the community in the form of ice, water, Gatorade and other supplies, Garcia said Jewels could always use more.
“We’re doing what we can, but ... Everything that comes into Jewels, this camp is eating it away,” Garcia said. “It would be really nice if people could start writing some checks.”
“It’s only going to progressively get worse this week because it’s been hot all week and the heat builds up in there,” she said. “Come Thursday and Friday, those tents aren’t even going to be livable.” Greg Mason can be reached at (509) 459-5047 or gregm@spokesman.com.
Joe McHale
Washington State Department of Transportation communications consultant
Volunteers assemble a quonset-style tent across the street from Camp Hope in the East Central area north of Interstate 90, where hundreds of people live in tents on Department of Transportation land. The tent is intended to be a cooling shelter when temperatures rise this week.
JESSE TINSLEY/ THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Libraries expect more seeking cool spot when temps top 100
By Jase Picanso and Molly Wisor
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Spokane Public Libraries are doubling as cooling centers this week as a heat wave bears down on the Inland Northwest.
But few people were taking advantage of the services on Tuesday afternoon.
Along with air conditioning, libraries are providing bottled water and seating for guests.
Tuesday through Saturday, Central, Shadle Park, Liberty Park and Hillyard libraries will be open until 8 p.m., an hour after their usual closing time on weeknights and three hours past their usual closing time on Friday and Saturday.
The heat wave is expected to last until Monday, with temperatures hitting their peak on Friday.
“We’re working closely with the city of Spokane to extend our hours,” Spokane Public Libraries spokesperson Amanda Donovan said.
Although library attendance wasn’t greater than usual at the Liberty Park and Hillyard branches early Tuesday afternoon, staff expect the number of patrons to increase as temperatures climb over 100 degrees over the next few days.
Those visiting the cooling centers will also be able to access the standard library resources until the normal closing time at 7 p.m.
The city has provided funding for security during these extended hours.
The city may add more hours if they are needed once the heat wave hits.“We are always open for anyone that needs a place to be,” Donovan said. Jase Picanso and Molly Wisor are members of The Spokesman-Review’s Teen Journalism Institute, a paid high school summer internship program funded by Bank of America and Innovia Foundation.
####################################################
KREM
Buzz Aldrin Puts Space Artifacts Up for Auction, Fetches Millions
SPOKANE, Wash. — Extreme heat is setting in on Spokane.
To help people get relief from near-triple digit temperatures, non-profits are stepping up to provide resources to keep people safe, hydrated and fed.
Compassionate Addiction Treatment is offering free water and food out of its downtown center and several pop-up tents around Spokane.
C.A.T. community advocacy peer Angel Tomeo-Sam said when non-profit leaders came together when they heard a heat wave was coming to Spokane, knowing people would need their resources.
“It didn’t take much to make a phone call here, there and then set a whole chain of events, and now we have this effort called "Cool Spokane,” Tomeo-Sam said.
Tomeo-Sam said C.A.T. is able to help people get food and water, while simultaneously giving them the opportunity to get recovery and addiction resources.
“This is a safe environment for people to come in off of the street and get some water,” Tomeo-Sam said.
Volunteers are also stationed at pop-up tents passing out water and food and providing a shady place to get out of the heat.
One person said she found out volunteers were needed through a friend on Facebook.
She said she volunteered because she knows there are vulnerable people in the community that need basic resources.
“It’s just a sigh of relief when they can get some water or sit in some shade and you know, that these people need it and the city's not doing anything to make sure that they're okay during this heat wave," volunteer Veronica Hawkins said. "So being the one to help to do that is amazing."
Near I-90, Jewels Helping Hands is setting up two large cooling tents.
Organizer Julie Garcia said the tents will have cots, fans, water and a portable shower station.
Garcia said the the tents should be able to accommodate 200 people.
She said the tents are the result of stepping up to support the community when the city can't be relied on.
"We can't always rely on the government to fix everything," Garcia said. "We know how well that works. So this is a community solution and it's going to take a community to help these folks out."
Her plan is to get tents up and operating by Tuesday.
####################################################
KHQ
SPOKANE, Wash. - One singular cooling tent may save the lives of countless people at Camp Hope this week in Spokane, as an extreme heat wave rages through Washington.
Julie Garcia, founder of the local non-profit Jewels Helping Hands, took it upon herself to hire a construction team to help build the large cooling tent on Tuesday.
“Today, this is going to go up,” Garcia said.
The tent will be up and ready for use Wednesday, just in time for the hottest temperatures of the week to hit Spokane; 100 degrees and over until at least Saturday.
And with over 600 people living at Camp Hope, up nearly 100 people in less than a month, the need for an accessible cooling shelter became imperative.
“We realized we could not possibly keep them all alive,” Garcia said. “By the end of the week the buildup in those tents of heat is just too much for anyone.”
Angelo, who goes by Angel (wishing to keep his last name anonymous), feels the heat each day.
“When it’s hot everyone gets mad and frustrated,” Angel said. “Being in the shade, it’s alright, but it’s also not helping our bodies cool down.”
When Angel got in a car accident, in the car he was living in and without money to repair the damage, he decided to come to Camp Hope. Even in this brutally hot weather, Angel calls this camp his home.
“Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve met family,” Angel said.
Camp Hope is a home to many people, including a large elderly population, who are much more vulnerable to this extreme heat than the younger generations.
In response to this, Garcia decided to create a safety plan.
“We’re working on the buddy system right now because the elderly folks that are in RVs or tents really are so tired from the heat exhaustion that they’re not leaving their tents right now,” Garcia said.
When asked if Angel was part of the buddy system, Garcia’s face lit up, as she said yes.
“I care for people,” Angel said.
Angel said one day he hopes to be a caretaker, once he is out of Camp Hope and back on his feet. For now, Angel takes care of a woman they call “Grandma” at Camp Hope.
“She’s been here since we opened and that’s his job, all day, is to make sure she’s hydrated and staying ok in her tent,” Garcia said.
A buddy system, a cooling tent, and a lot of support is what the Camp Hope community is relying on to get through this hot week in Spokane.
“We’ve already gotten them out of downtown, now the goal is just to serve them where they’re at,” Garcia said.
And for the cooling locations in downtown Spokane, well, Garcia said the homeless population will stay across the city at Camp Hope.
"When you're in your neighborhood and say you don't have air conditioning in your house, you're going to go to the library that's in your neighborhood because that's your home,” Garcia said. “That's what they're going to do here, they'll come to the cooling center in their home."
The cooling tent at Camp Hope will be open for ten days from around eight a.m. to eight p.m., during the hottest hours of the day.
####################################################
KXLY
Posted: July 26, 2022 3:11 PM Updated: July 26, 2022 10:25 PM by Vanessa Perez
SPOKANE, Wash. – While families can cool off at any of Spokane’s libraries and parks, the extreme heat can be tough and sometimes deadly for people who have trouble getting to those places.
Last year’s heat dome killed 20 people in Spokane and now local organizations are doing what they can to make sure that never happens again.
Volunteers are building a cooling tent across from Camp Hope; the homeless encampment that is now bigger than some small cities. When it is finished, it will be able to fit up to 200 people. But that still isn’t enough to keep the more than 600 people who live there cool.
Jewels Helping Hands says its biggest concern right now is the elderly.
On top of the cooling tent, Executive Director Julie Garcia says her team is constantly checking on people, and medical professionals are on site at least once a day.
Neighbors in the area have also donated their hoses to keep people cool at the camp.
“We’re just trying to keep them alive in this heat. Yesterday proved to be really hard. We had a lot of people passed out. We have a lot of elderly here. We’re unable to keep them alive with just wanter, they need a lot more than that,” Garcia said.
Garcia says Thursday and Friday will be even more challenging when temperatures are expected to reach over 100 degrees.
The city has its own areas such as libraries and parks where people are able to cool off, but Garcia claims those places aren’t close enough for the people living at Camp Hope.
“It makes the most sense it’s cost effective to just do it right here across the street,” she said.
Spokane fire chief, Brian Schaeffer says his crews are also keeping an eye out on people around the city and they have extra water bottles to hand out.
He says SFD received ten calls related to the extreme heat on Sunday.
“With these extreme temperatures on one side or the other. It’s just important to pay a little bit more attention, and take that extra few minutes to stop and check on people, and make sure that they’re doing okay,” Schaeffer said.
He says if people are interested in going to one of the city’s cooling areas, they can ride the bus at no cost to get to the location.
####################################################
Range Media
Without city support, Camp Hope & local orgs erect cooling tent to survive
Carl Segerstrom
HEAT WAVE DAY 2 | The most pressing supply needs for Camp Hope are ice, water, Gatorade, sunscreen and cups.
Carl is checking in with our unhoused neighbors at Camp Hope every day during this heat wave to see how they’re faring and what they need. Read Day 1 here.
Today, the major development at Camp Hope was the construction of a temporary cooling tent on the lot opposite the camp. As temperatures neared triple digits, a group of about a dozen workers pieced together the rounded metal frame of a 2000+ square foot tent. The plan is to run large fans and misters in the tent so Camp Hope residents can get some relief from a forecast that, right now, is predicting temperatures at or above 100 degrees tomorrow through Sunday. There will be about 30 cots in the tent, according to Julie Garcia, the executive director of Jewels Helping Hands.
If the tent works well, and there’s increased demand from the camp, Garcia said they will look into pulling together resources for another temporary cooling area.
All of this work to try and keep the more than 600 people at Camp Hope safe through the extreme heat event is being done without financial support from the city or state. The Washington State Department of Transportation and Mayor Woodward’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the situation.
Council president Breean Beggs sent the following statement:
Council has urged the administration to specifically target Camp Hope for services that we provide cool tents near them or provide them transportation to the libraries or even open up the two vacant libraries at Northeast and East Central which are quite large and are going to be renovated anyway so it would be good temporary shelters.
So far, I haven't gotten any real response from the administration on these ideas. I am very worried that there will be serious health issues and potentially deaths due to inaction.
Last year, council passed an ordinance requiring preplanning and action for this event and has provided all funding requested by the administration for providing those services. We would undoubtedly provide more money if needed and asked.
Without funding support from local or state government, Empire Health Foundation (EHF) stepped in and rushed an emergency grant to pay for the construction and operation of the cooling shelter.
“I reached out to folks at the city to see if they were going to try and address that specifically for the folks that are at Camp Hope, and they said they're going with the library cooling shelters that they're opening up,” said Zeke Smith the president of EHF.
The nearest city-sanctioned cooling shelter is the new East Central Library, over a mile away.
The nearest city cooling station to Camp Hope is over a mile away at the East Central Library. See a map of all the locations here.
Smith heard from advocates that people weren’t likely to cover that distance, especially if it meant leaving their possessions behind. “They're not going to leave their stuff at Camp Hope,” Smith said.” There's a lot of anxiety, so I felt like it was important to try to get something up.”
Throughout the conversation with Smith, there was a sense that too much time had been wasted on patchwork fixes that shouldn’t be necessary and which, in many cases, are insufficient. “I’m saddened that we don’t have better systems in place to address what we know is going to be a significant hardship for those individuals,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, I'm disappointed that we haven't figured out together — and that means the local government has a key role in that — how we make sure that people are going to be as safe as we can.”
Instead, a homegrown humanitarian crisis has become a political football.
“I get that people have different ideas about how we got to this point and I get that people have different ideas about the longer term solutions,” Smith said. “It's supposed to be somewhere between 102 and 105 degrees on Friday and I can't imagine what that means in one of those tents in the full sun, which most of them are.”
“I just think we should be focused together first and foremost on human lives and how we take care of people,” Smith concluded. “I hope that that's what we're able to do and that it is compelling to others who might have resources to support this as we move forward.”
Residents and volunteers are doing what they can to survive the heat at Camp Hope in Spokane, Wash. on Tuesday, July 26, 2022 (Photos by Erick Doxey for RANGE Media)
The word of the day on Camp Hope’s whiteboard today was hydrate.Residents splashed and poured water on each other to cool down as they grabbed water bottles and gatorade from the camp’s supply tent. One resident bought a hand pump pesticide applicator to use as a mister on himself and fellow residents. While some bemoaned the heat and worried about staying hydrated, others said they weren’t too worried about the heat — at least not for themselves.
“I’m not concerned for myself, I’m concerned for people’s pets,” said camp resident Rosa Peterson. “I have a kitten myself [Liliona] and I’m pretty worried about her. I have a spray bottle and a fan that goes around your neck and she can turn them on and off as she chooses.”
“I would go to the pool, but if my kitten can’t go I don’t go,” Peterson said. “I just drench myself in water, take cold showers and put washcloths on the back of my neck. I have to keep ice, ice is the wonder.”
“These tents, it can be 98 degrees out here and in my tent it can be 115, and I know this because I have a thermometer,” she said. “Last week, they said it was 98 and the thermometer in my tent was 114. My kitten was throwing up all day because she had heat exhaustion. That’s what I’m worried about.”
Camp Hope resident Loren Freeman said that he was getting through the heat by panhandling money to go buy ice at Fred Meyer. “I think we’ll be ok. I have a great wife,” Freeman said. “We support each other and we both use our heads — do what we can that can benefit things.”
“We have great coolers,” he said. “We’re not ill-equipped but it’s just hot and we have no shade here really.”
The cooling center at Camp Hope — or any cooling center really — aren’t a good fit for Freeman. “I have social issues, I have anxiety, so I don’t put myself in that situation,” he said.
Levi Corker, who was wearing wrap-around glasses, said the heat was getting to him. “Exhausting and exhausted even more,” he said. “What Jewels [Julie Garcia] is doing right here getting all the donations and all the sponsors and stuff is helping out a lot. We’ve never had this before. It makes a big difference.
Corker said the most important thing for people to get by is peer support. “Honestly, if you get too hot and dehydrated and all that stuff you start getting hallucinations and whatever else. It comes down to literally — do you have someone to help you,” he said. “A lot of people forget themselves so you have to have that other person around, it helps you out a lot.”
Corker, for one, said he’d be using the camp's cooling shelter: “Oh, hell yeah.”
Throughout the day, community members dropped off supplies in support of the camp. Some were associated with local healthcare organizations, others were just there of their own accord.
One woman, who only gave her first name, Danielle, said she’s been dropping off goods since the camp started. At first, she’d bring seven loaves worth of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a couple times a week. Today, Danielle brought eight cases of water. She said that her faith in Jesus and hearing about other churches helping led her to provide support for the camp.
Rob Stevens, who works on community engagement for Molina Healthcare, brought some supplies as well. “I’m just dropping off the bottled water to try and make sure everyone stays alive,” Stevens said. “My wife and I do some of it on our own, today I’m actually out here via work. It’s nice that I have a company that lets me do that.”
“I used to be homeless, I’ve worked in homeless services for over 13 years and I refuse to let people die on my watch if I have any control over it,” Stevens said.
Kevin Parkins, a Humana field sales representative who helps people sign-up for the company's Medicare plans, also brought bottled water. “Really I just told Julie to let me know when there’s a need. Yesterday we dropped off Gatorade, before we brought water, ice, sunscreen … whatever needs there are really,” Parkins said. “I’m just trying to be as available as possible to help these individuals, sometimes that’s bringing Gatorade, sometimes that’s helping them find their Medicare number, sometimes that’s getting them a new plan.”
“I have a very strong philosophy that the only thing that separates me from the people down here is a few choices in life and I realize that I was born with a lot of privilege and I didn’t do anything to earn it,” he said. “Even though I grew up in a one-parent household I had a good support system.”
“When I was six years old, when my parents got divorced, the Salvation Army sponsored my family for Christmas. I remember when my mom got that phone call and they were just telling her about all the presents that my brother and sister were going to get and she was just in tears,” he recalled, choking up.
“They tried to tell her, just tell your kids it’s from you, tell them it’s from Santa Claus, she said, ‘No, I want to tell them it’s from you. They need to know that there’s people in this world that love you just because you exist and because you’re a person with a soul.’”
“I want [the Camp Hope] residents to know that I love them just because they exist,” Parkins said. “It means a lot to me to come along and love people — like I was loved when I was a kid — even when they didn’t have to.”