For the past decade, Sue Crothers has volunteered her time to make sure that her neighbors have somewhere to sleep during freezing nights in Salem.

Crothers, the warming center coordinator at Salem First Presbyterian Church, said that what tends to surprise new volunteers is the wide range of people who come in need of a warm place to sleep for the night. Among them are men still in their work clothes. In recent years, they’re seeing more women, more people using wheelchairs and walkers and more people who otherwise sleep in their cars.

When temperatures dip below freezing and the church opens its basement, they typically fill the 95 available spaces. People sleep on mats on the concrete floor, with blankets provided.

But the shelter won’t open at all without at least five people workin

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