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Morristown doesn’t get snowstorms often, but when we do, we go big.

This week, yardsticks measured nine inches in some places, and mercury plummeted into the single digits.

Snow means schools are closed, and youngsters and their sleds hit the slopes. After 30 minutes, moms are calling off the back porch for kids to come inside, get warm and dry, and drink a mug of hot chocolate.

But what if you aren’t a kid? What if you are an adult, there is no hot chocolate, your winter coat is threadbare, and you have no inside to go to?

That’s the crisis for the unhoused community of Morristown, and that’s the call our local churches answered in the past week.

The ecumenical effort began at First Presbyterian Church, and snowballed from there to All Saints’ Episcopal Church, The Avenue Church, Arrowhead Church, Eternal Truth Church, First Baptist Church, First United Methodist Church, God’s Warehouse (Nolachucky Baptist Association), Hillcrest Baptist Church, Liberty Baptist Church, Our Anchor Christian resource center, and others.

First Presbyterian, All Saints’ Episcopal, First United Methodist, and Our Anchor hosted warming centers, and the churches sent volunteers to serve meals provided by Daily Bread Community Kitchen, and distribute coats, gloves, knit caps, scarves, socks, panchos, and sleeping bags. Too many people to mention brought food and supplies.

“The Warming Station came together quickly, with talks starting January 21 and 22,” said the Rev. Sam Schaus, Pastor at First Presbyterian. “I was contacted by Dr. Dean Haun, Senior Pastor at First Baptist, then Chris Bell, Director at Hamblen County Emergency Management Agency, then Pastor Justin Graham at The Avenue.”

“Pastor Graham set up a meeting with many local pastors as well as Mr. Bell and Tonya Polidoro, Executive Director at MATS (Ministerial Association Temporary Shelter), both of whom gave us some great advice and guidance on putting together a warming station,” the Rev. Schaus said.

“It was decided that First Presbyterian would host the warming station for a few reasons: one, FPC had the best combination of physical location and space available on short notice for this type of ministry, and, two, FPC already does a shower ministry for the homeless on Mondays and Thursdays, so many people were already familiar with the space.”

“Volunteers and contributions came from all over,” the Rev. Schaus said. “The Avenue provided most of the snacks and coffee for the week as well as some clothing items and shoes, in addition to the clothing items the shower ministry had on hand.”

“First Baptist provided the volunteer sign-up system which kept everyone mostly organized for the week,” he said. “The Daily Bread brought lunch every day for those in the warming station. One restaurant, Mexico Lindo, brought dinner one night, and an individual brought dinner another night.”

“The First Presbyterian shower ministry provided about 30 more showers in the past week than on normal weeks,” he said. “When there was a scheduling conflict at FPC that could not be avoided, the warming station moved over to First United Methodist on Friday, January 30, then over to All Saints’ Episcopal from Saturday, January 31, to Monday morning, February 2.”

“In many ways, this was a fully ecumenical, fully communal ministry,” the Rev. Schaus said. “It could not have happened as smoothly without the involvement and care of so many people from so many different places, many of which have gone unnamed or unnoticed behind the scenes. I can’t say ‘thank you’ enough to everyone who made it work.”

“Chris Bell and I talked, and he brought up the idea of somehow providing a place for people to stay warm during the cold spell we had last week,” said Justin Graham, Pastor at The Avenue. “So, I called several pastors in the area, along with MATS, and we got together on a Zoom call to see how we could effectively pull this off.”

“It is a beautiful thing to watch our church community come together in unity to love people,” Pastor Graham said. “The real heroes with this are First Presbyterian with Pastor Sam (who opened up their building), MATS, and all the volunteers from many different churches who showed up every day to make this happen for those who needed a warm place to stay safe during that very cold system in our area. Let’s just say that the church in 2026 is strong!”

Mike and Leigh Travis, members of First United Methodist who are always quick to respond to a need, heard the cry for help from First Presbyterian, and immediately began to put a plan together.

Asa Majors, Pastor at First United Methodist, called last week’s coming together of people, churches, and followers of Jesus, “Kingdom work. It’s kind of beautiful, right?” and added, “Time is the greatest gift.”

“It was a joy to see people from different denominations sitting together, serving together, and blessing ‘the least of these’ in our community … together,” she said.

Sue Tart Justis and Ethel Rhodes of All Saints’ Episcopal helped with the warming center at their church.

“I worked at First Presbyterian, and when they had to cancel Saturday, All Saints’ Episcopal took it up Saturday, Sunday and Sunday night,” said Justis, who coordinated her church’s warming center. “This is too big a job for one organization to do, but we saw this week what we can do when we all pull together.”

“The biggest takeaway from this week is this is just a band-aid,” Justis said. “What we really need is a coalition to help raise funds to build MATS a permanent warming station.”

“Thank you to First United Methodist for hosting our homeless Friday and Monday night,” said Ethel Rhodes. “It was bitterly cold and the people without shelter were warm, safe, and well-fed.”

“The Methodist church is filled with wonderful people,” Rhodes said. “They have big hearts and welcoming personalities. Thank you to all of the volunteers who showed up and helped.”

“Our community is stepping up for our brothers and sisters who need basic necessities. Not one volunteer was critical as compassion was the prevailing emotion,” she said. “An honor to know each and every one of you. An honor to serve with you.”

Rhodes voiced support for Our Anchor that opened on Tuesday, and for MATS, which reopened the nighttime warming station on Wednesday.

“Thank you to the staff and volunteers at MATS and Daily Bread,” Rhodes said. “You all see a group of human beings that we often overlook. Thank you people. You are a living example of ‘walking each other home.’”

Pastor Tommy Stephan at Eternal Truth said Our Anchor community resources was a warming center three days this week.

“At Our Anchor, we believe every person is a child of God deserving of the dignity of a home,” Pastor Stephan shared. “Our mission is to walk alongside our brothers and sisters as they transition from the streets into permanent housing, providing the biblical counsel, education, and advocacy they need to reclaim their independence and God-given potential.”

MATS Director Tonya Polidoro thanked the church community for their help during the snow crisis. “We appreciate that the churches came together for a common cause to open warming stations,” Polidoro said.

MATS reopened its warming center Wednesday night after being closed because of damage to an outside door, she said. The MATS warming center is a small dining room that seats about 25 people.

Polidoro said the MATS warming center is understaffed. There is only one case manager on duty to answer the door and telephone, and to monitor the security camera, while also serving as many as 32 residents, in addition to upwards of 30 people coming into the warming station.

“Last year, the warming station had $22,000 of damage to our plumbing,” Polidoro said. “The Morristown community came through, and got us a (portable toilet).”

“The board is doing the best we can with what we have,” she said, “but it’s easier to get volunteers to work during the daytime, and harder to get volunteers overnight.”

“We need more open space than our dining room,” Polidoro said. “We bought a lot next to us that we will end up putting a structure on with a community room to provide showers and laundry usage on weekdays.”

MATS will have to hire more people to staff the overnight warming station, she said, but right now, the money is not there.

“If we need supplies, our community rallies behind us,” Polidoro said, “but what we need are volunteers; however, the available space leaves no room for volunteers at this time.”

“We have had a warming station for the last 15 years,” she said, but the current facility is unsustainable. “We’re going to have to go in a different direction.”