---
title: "A night at the winter shelter"
description: "What happens between 7 pm and 7 am when forty extra beds open in the city centre, told by the volunteers on the night shift."
url: "https://givo-astro.pages.dev/blog/a-night-at-the-winter-shelter/"
date: "2026-10-18"
author: "Marc Durand"
---

# A night at the winter shelter

> What happens between 7 pm and 7 am when forty extra beds open in the city centre, told by the volunteers on the night shift.

The doors open at seven. By ten past, the first guests are at the long table with a bowl of soup, and the night team is already learning names. On a cold night in November, all forty extra beds are taken by half past eight.

This is an account of one night shift in the second week of the winter season. Names of guests are changed; the numbers are from the shift log.

## Seven o'clock: the door

Two volunteers stand at the door. One checks the bed list against the referrals that came in from the outreach team during the day. The other does the welcome: a hot drink, a locker key, a towel, and a short walk past the showers and the quiet room.

Nobody is asked to explain how they got here. Most people are simply tired. The rule for the door team is to ask one question only, "Have you eaten today?", and to act on the answer.

That night, 38 guests arrived before nine. Six were new to the shelter. Two came in with the outreach van after a call from a bus driver.

## Eight o'clock: supper and the first conversations

Supper is cooked in the community kitchen across the road and carried over in insulated boxes. On this night it was lentil stew, rice, bread, and apples. The kitchen sends enough for second helpings, and most people take one.

> "The meal is where people decide whether they trust us. If supper is good and nobody rushes them, they talk to the support worker in the morning."
>
> Karim, night volunteer since 2023 (sample)

The support worker on duty, Daniel, uses supper to make a list. He does not interview anyone at the table. He notes who mentioned a hospital appointment, who has a phone that needs charging, and who asked about a cousin in another town.

## Midnight: the quiet hours

From midnight, two volunteers stay awake in shifts of three hours. They refill the tea urn, answer questions in a low voice, and walk the dormitory every hour. If someone needs more than a cup of tea, they call the on-call support worker, who is never more than fifteen minutes away.

On this night, the log records:

- one guest who could not sleep and sat in the quiet room until three, talking about football;
- one call to the on-call worker about chest pain, which ended with a taxi to the emergency department and a bed held until he came back at five;
- one set of clothes washed and dried overnight for a guest with an interview at ten.

Most nights are like this. Very little goes wrong, and the things that go right are small.

## Six o'clock: breakfast and the next step

Breakfast is at six: porridge, eggs, toast, and coffee. At half past six, Daniel sits at a corner table with anyone who wants to talk about the next step. That might be a room in supported housing, a family member's sofa, a doctor's appointment, or a call to the benefits office as soon as it opens.

Last winter, one guest in three left the shelter for somewhere more permanent before the season ended. The rest kept a bed until March, and the outreach team kept in touch with most of them over the summer.

## What it costs

A bed for one night costs $30. That covers the bed and bedding, supper and breakfast, laundry, heating, and a share of the support worker's time. The building is lent to us by the city for the winter, so none of the money goes on rent.

This season we aim to keep the forty extra beds open for 120 nights. The volunteers give their time; the beds still have to be paid for, one night at a time.

## Seven o'clock: the door again

By seven in the morning the dormitory is empty and the cleaning team is in. The night volunteers sign the log, hand over to the day team, and go home. In twelve hours the door opens again.

If you would like to help, you can [give a night](https://givo-astro.pages.dev/causes/winter-shelter-beds/) or [join a night shift](https://givo-astro.pages.dev/volunteer/). New volunteers do one shift alongside an experienced team before they are put on the rota.