Julia Cochrane helped open the Winter Welcoming Center in downtown Port Townsend’s Pope Marine Building this month. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)

Julia Cochrane helped open the Winter Welcoming Center in downtown Port Townsend’s Pope Marine Building this month. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)

Welcoming Center gives shelter from cold

Social distancing practiced in Pope Marine Building

EDITOR’S NOTE: The hours of the shelter in the American Legion Hall basement have been corrected.

PORT TOWNSEND — For Lisa Anderson, it feels good to be housed, sober — and, now, employed.

Anderson is a staff monitor at the Winter Welcoming Center, which opened a couple of weeks ago in the waterfront Pope Marine Building just in time for the snowstorm.

“I was homeless until not too long ago,” Anderson said Tuesday, as she organized the center’s tables full of swag: cloth masks, hand warmers, sanitizer.

The Welcoming Center, open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. seven days a week — longer during severe weather — provides a place to use wi-fi and a restroom, charge a cellphone and just get out of the cold.

The Jefferson Interfaith Action Coalition (JIAC), a group of congregations from around the city, established the center two winters ago in a narrow building near the Sea Breeze Gas & Grocery on West Sims Way.

“With COVID, it’s a whole different ballgame,” said Anderson, and the Pope Marine Building, which is about twice as big, works well for social distancing.

Up to 18 people can share the space while staying far enough apart — and to add to the benefit, the city of Port Townsend is giving the JIAC the place rent-free.

People need a place to sit quietly and not be admonished for loitering, Anderson said.

The winter shelter in the American Legion Hall basement is open 24 hours a day every day, but guests may want to get out of the windowless space and come to the Welcoming Center, which looks out on the water.

So far, though, too few are finding the center at the Pope Marine. Word of mouth needs to reach “the people on the margins, the people who are tucked away,” said First Presbyterian Church pastor Paul Heins.

He works with the Methodist, Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Episcopal, Quaker and Unitarian Universalist congregations to operate and help fund the place. It will stay open into April or as long as it needs to, Heins said.

He’d welcome creative solutions to the Welcoming Center’s challenges, which include the fact that no coffee or tea can be sipped inside the building, and no food eaten. Pandemic-induced protocols preclude all that.

A nearby coffee shop has expressed interest in providing vouchers for guests, Heins said.

In the past, the Welcoming Center has offered laundry vouchers and bus passes. The latter aren’t needed this year, since Jefferson Transit buses are fare-free during the pandemic.

Julia Cochrane, a member of the Welcoming Center steering committee, came down Tuesday morning to greet monitors and guests.

“We do have the most gorgeous location in town,” she said as the sun shone and the Washington State Ferry glided past on Port Townsend Bay.

Cochrane noted that individual donations and support from the Jefferson Community Foundation have helped fund the center’s expenses: insurance and two staff monitors each day.

Other than the Pope Marine Building, “there’s legally nowhere to go to sit and be warm,” she said.

People without homes used to be able to go to the public library or the Penny Saver market or the Food Co-op to escape harsh weather and hard concrete, but such places have closed their spaces for sitting.

Anderson said she used to go to Kah Tai Lagoon during the day after she spent nights at the shelter. She got sober a year ago, and “it’s very, very hard to rebuild,” she said.

The Welcoming Center is a place with no judgment or unsolicited advice, Anderson added. Together with co-monitor Jeannette Mead, she keeps the space tidy — “we both like to clean, and that helps” — and hopes more unhoused people find out about it.

“Guests can bring their dogs here, as long as they’re on a leash” and well-behaved, Mead said.

“[Donated] tents and tarps are a huge need,” she added, along with coats, socks and gloves.

Heins summed up the center’s mission: “It doesn’t matter who you are or what your situation is,” he said, “we want to make it as warm as possible, and as safe as possible.

“Having it sponsored by an interfaith coalition is meaningful to me personally,” the pastor added. People have come out of their congregational silos because, he said, “we have a heart to work together.”

For information or to donate to the Welcoming Center, visit FPCPT.org/welcomingcenter or contact Cochrane at 360-821-1926 or willowtree@olypen.com.

________

Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.

Inside the Winter Welcoming Center in downtown Port Townsend, monitors Lisa Anderson, left, and Jeannette Mead admire a baby bib among the donated clothing. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)

Inside the Winter Welcoming Center in downtown Port Townsend, monitors Lisa Anderson, left, and Jeannette Mead admire a baby bib among the donated clothing. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)

More in Life

Photos by Katie Newton-Salmon
2024 Sequim and Port Angeles Equestrian teams got off to a great start during its first WAHSET competition, bringing home where they brought home nine first place wins. Top row from left: Katelynn Sharpe, Kennedy Gilbertson, Savanah Boulton, Celbie Karjalainen, Asha Swanberg
Bottom row left: Coach Misty Gilbertson, PA member Olivia West, Kenzie Winters, Lilly Meyer, Joanna Seelye, Taylor Lewis, Kiaja Johnson, Paisley Morris, PA member Zakara Braun, and coach Ady Crosby. Not pictured non-competing member Paige Reed and advisor Katie Newton.
HORSEPLAY: First high school equestrian event of the year for Sequim

SEQUIM HIGH SCHOOL’S equestrian team had a “great first meet,” said coach… Continue reading

Emily Matthiessen/Olympic Peninsula News Group
Sequim Ballroom intern Brie Rocha follows instructor Werner Figar’s lead as he keeps an eye on his intermediate/advanced swing class.
Dancers work on moves during classes at Sequim schoolhouse

Beginners, intermediate students learn variety of ballroom styles

ISSUES OF FAITH: The courage of religious leaders

“JUSTICE, JUSTICE SHALL you pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20). The Jewish Bible, the Tanach,… Continue reading

Rev. Asha Burson-Johnson
Unity in the Olympics service slated

The Rev. Asha Burson-Johnson will be the speaker at… Continue reading

Jamal Rahman
Rahman scheduled for OUUF program

The Imam Jamal Rahman will present “Spiritual Insights and… Continue reading

The USS Argonaught stationed at Pearl Harbor and Brisbane, Australia during WWII.
BACK WHEN: The human cost of war hit the Peninsula in WWII

SEVENTY-NINE YEARS ago the end was in sight for World War 2.… Continue reading

A GROWING CONCERN: Make the most of the last weeks of winter

TODAY IS THE eve of Groundhog Day. Regardless if the furry rodent… Continue reading

Unitarian speaker slated in Port Angeles

The Rev. Terry Barrett will present “The Gift of… Continue reading

Tools for caregivers class set for Sequim

The public is invited to enroll in the Powerful Tools… Continue reading

Prayer gathering for peace slated

Bahá’is of Sequim and Port Angeles will host “Prayers… Continue reading

ISSUES OF FAITH: Finding our way home

THIS COMING SUNDAY is the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany and this… Continue reading