HOPKINSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Salvation Army in Hopkinsville has opened a new dedicated emergency weather shelter this winter, replacing years of makeshift arrangements that strained staff and resources.

For years, when unbearable cold hit Hopkinsville, Lt. David Donegan with the Salvation Army said they scrambled, transforming the dining room into an emergency shelter overnight.

"It worked, but it stretched staff thin," Donegan said.

The new space fills a critical gap that has long challenged the organization's winter operations.

"In the past we would open up an emergency weather shelter we would do it in our soup kitchen which means the next morning we had to sanitize we had to put tables back and prepare for our feeding services," Donegan said.

The building that once sat empty i

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