clothing, safe from the elements. (As an aside, even weather-related school closures illuminate inequity in our community: districts and families with access to more resources are able to keep school in session while already under-resourced RCSD students lose classroom time and access to other services available through schools.)

In the midst of these freezing temperatures, we know that some of our neighbors are spending nights outside. There are any number of communal failings we could point to in an effort to understand and solve homelessness in Rochester. Thinking systemically is important – and so is immediate care for our neighbors.

The Community Outreach Center is able to provide a small amount of that care: warm meals and hot showers, a place to launder a sleeping bag or blankets, a new coat or pair of gloves, a place to warm up for a few hours during the day after a long cold night, conversations about possibilities for indoor emergency shelter. Our volunteers show up daily to offer whatever we can to make Rochester’s brutal winters a little easier. Even our main church building offers some of this care on Sunday mornings: it is easy to take for granted the simple gift of a heated building with restroom access.

Perhaps in the future we can expand our winter offerings or hours. In what new ways might God be calling us to offer warmth and hospitality during the coldest days and nights of the year?

– Rev. Pat Dupont