Jan. 20—While residents across Wilson County hunkered down in their homes and turned up the heat as winter weather swept across Middle Tennessee this week, other residents faced the issue of finding shelter as temperatures plummeted.

“The bitter cold is especially difficult on people who don’t have a place to call home,” Compassionate Hands Executive Director John Grant said.

While Grant has not seen a change in the number of people without homes, he has seen an increase in people seeking shelter at Lebanon’s Compassionate Hands over the past week.

“When the weather gets this fierce, our numbers do go up,” Grant said. “We had 19 ladies who stayed with us (Tuesday) night, and that was the most we’ve ever had. It’s really hard on people who have no place to go.”

During the winter weather, Compassionate Hands extends its hours to accommodate the increased needs of the homeeless population.

“We have been open pretty much around the clock starting Sunday,” Grant said. “A couple of times a day, we’ll clear out for 30 minutes so we can clean the center and reset and re-register the guests to start on the next round. We (have) three meals a day, and pretty much, all day, people are in the center.”

The conditions — which have included temperatures hovering near 0 some nights — have made it more difficult for people in need to reach Compassionate Hands for shelter but haven’t made it impossible.

“Our bus is still going out, but the conditions do make it more difficult,” Grant said. “A lot of our guests have cars, but they’re older cars and not in great condition. If you’ve got a bad battery, this bad weather will expose that. We’re doing a lot of jump-starting in our parking lot for our guests who have older cars with older batteries. It makes transportation more dangerous and more difficult.”

In addition to complications with transportation and an increase of guests at its center, the winter weather has complicated matters for Compassionate Hands in other ways.

“We have staff members that have not been able to get in to work because of the icy roads and volunteers who have not been able to serve because of the icy roads,” Grant said. “Then, we have higher numbers of guests through these bitter cold days, and we’re serving extra meals. We really have to scramble on these weeks (that get so cold).”

For some, seeking shelter has been a choice between independence and the cold. Linda Brownlee and her husband go out at least once a week in the Lebanon area to hand out blankets, tents and to provide a hot meal.

“The majority of them have now resorted to going to Compassionate Hands,” Brownlee said. “There was a (homeless) camp behind Walmart, and that’s been disassembled. There was a camp behind McDonald’s, and that too has been (disassembled). They’ve just kind of moved and moved to different spots that they can go to.”

Many of the individuals who she helps are living in their cars or are reluctant to spend the night in a shelter.

“They feel like they’re leaving their independence when they do that,” Brownlee said.