As cold temperatures settle in across the Bay Area, counties across our region are opening cold-weather shelters to help residents stay safe and warm.

Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties activated their cold weather shelters Monday night, and they will stay open Tuesday night to serve anyone in need of a warm place to sleep.

Its critical that they come. Last year, one of our regulars passed away at a bus stop because of hypothermia. It just got too cold, said Christine Bond with St. Vincent de Paul.

Bond spent the day helping local shelters prepare for the cold night ahead, delivering food and blankets to organizations including First United Methodist Church in Clearwater, one of several Pinellas County locations now serving as a cold weather shelter.

That shelter can accommodate

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