White County Shelter for Winter’s Coldest Nights

As overnight temperatures continue to drop, Seeds of Hope of Tennessee is preparing its Coldest Nights Shelter in White County.

Seeds of Hope Executive Director Tina Lomax said the shelter will be open to people with nowhere to go on nights the temperature drops below 40 degrees. Lomax said Seeds of Hope still needs donations and volunteers to help cook meals, supply hygiene products and fund purchasing identification documents.

“When they’re homeless, when they’re in these types of situations, they’ve lost all hope,” Lomax said. “If we can be just a little bit of hope for these people, that can get them back on track, then we’ve done our part to help.”

Lomax said this season’s shelter schedule will be from January 1 until March 15. Lomax said this time leading up to the start of the 2021 is critical for garnering community support.

“We’ll need people to help us when shelter season starts, cook because we feed them every night… we will need people to provide their time to cook a meal for the guests,” Lomax said. “We also have opportunities of hygiene products, $5 gift cards, these are things that we help the individuals out with.

Lomax said cash donations are a big part of helping someone get out of their current situation.

“Mainly, to keep everything going, it’s a monetary donation we do need right now to help service the individuals, either by helping them get their identification, their birth certificate, so that they could actively be employed.”

Lomax said she works with this non-profit because of her own experiences. Lomax said she’s lived this life that creates a loss of hope.

“We just want to impart hope,” Lomax said. “Back into the lives of the people in White County and surrounding counties.”

Anyone interested in becoming involved with the shelter or making donations can reach out to the Seeds of Hope of Tennessee Facebook page and website. Lomax said people can also reach out at seedsofhopeoftn@yahoo.com via email.