How does one get into a tent city?

[Mchomeless]

Tonight there are severe storms....Ive never lived in a tent just a car and a homeless shelter.....What does everyone do when there are storms and tornados? I have been in a tent when it rained I was scared cant imagine a big wind storm.....I pray everyone in a tent is safe from danger.....TC Mchomeless

[Ibu Oni]

Hi there,

Just make sure your tent is not under a tree (branches can fall off), also if you can fill up crates with big heavy stones and tie your tent to them. Please do not be scared, worst which could happen is your tent falling on you and it is pretty light. A few times, we had storms so hard that our big military tent the MAsh went splat...thank God, no one was in it. I also saw tents fly off but never with campers in them...just breathe and remember, these are just noises. In case of tornadoes or hurricane, I d recommend dropping and folding your tent and going to the nearest emergency shelter
{hugs}}

Bea

[Clarissa]

Originally Posted by A-love

Can someone tell me where i can go please in caifornia or nevada? i am alone and scared! where can i stay and get a shower and hot meal and help finding a job? i dont even know where to post stuff on here! im just reading things. find me please and write me back. thanks

Is there some kind of social worker where you are that could help you get started, tell you what's available? If you have no idea where to go to find one, could you call 211, ask at a church (a church that has an office on site - go in the middle of the week) or even ask at the police station?

[Clarissa]

Originally Posted by Ibu Oni

Hi there,

Just make sure your tent is not under a tree (branches can fall off), also if you can fill up crates with big heavy stones and tie your tent to them. Please do not be scared, worst which could happen is your tent falling on you and it is pretty light. A few times, we had storms so hard that our big military tent the MAsh went splat...thank God, no one was in it. I also saw tents fly off but never with campers in them...just breathe and remember, these are just noises. In case of tornadoes or hurricane, I d recommend dropping and folding your tent and going to the nearest emergency shelter
{hugs}}

Bea

Once when I was camping we had terrible rains and we couldn't stay because we had a date when we had to be home, so we packed the tent up wet and went home. It took three days to get home so the tent stayed packed up and wet all that time. We dried it out - or tried to - later but the tent was ruined and couldn't be used again except for a child to play in.
If you have to leave to get shelter, my guess is that it would probably be better to leave the tent standing rather than trying to pack it up.

[Clarissa]

I've been worried about what happens to the people living rough when the weather is bitterly cold. A person who used to work at the shelter and still subs occasionally said that the shelter is very accomodating in such circumstances, letting lots of extra people sleep on the couches or the floor. Plus, she said, a lot of the people are "couching it" in homes of friends.
In our area there is a lot of concern and public support for poor people and I've very glad of that.

[Garlic Breath]

when it's cold it's insulation, insulation, insulation. The trailer I live in is breezy, too many leaks to worry about stuffiness, it's made me a fresh-air freak. But, in the winter, if it's 35 outside .... it's 35 inside. It actually gets that cold occasionally in my area. So, I use layers. In bed, I have a modern synthetic comforter, then a down comforter, then on top of that I had a system of laying bath towels, to add weight and seal air in. I found that the warm air would rise up out of my bed and I couldn't get warm enough to sleep well. This winter, I'm going to "quilt" the comforter and down comforter together, and either sew towels together to make a better top layer, or find some kind of heavy blanket to put on top.

If I were still out on the street it would be slightly worse than my trailer and I'd think in terms of insulation, except for the fact that you need fresh air to breathe, you want to keep air from moving because it will move your heat away. Dig in, layer clothes, cardboard, even leaves, anything. Newspapers, old foam stuff, bubble wrap, etc.

[Jor-EL]

Last December, beatonthestreet started a thread in the "Homelessness in the United States" section, regarding cold weather services. Here's the link to that thread.

COLD WEATHER SERVICES: Please read

We can continue adding to the listings this year.