By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
BRYSON CITY, N.C. – Jeff Helpman, pastor of The Grove Church on Franklin Grove in Bryson City, heads a Code Purple warming center at his church with the help of his wife, Jodi Helpman, who is graduating this May from Western Carolina University’s Master of Social Work program. The warming center provides shelter for those experiencing homelessness in “code purple” conditions—a significant drop in temperature that poses severe health risks.
Jeff and Jodi Helpman (Photo contributed)
The warming center is offered to the local unhoused population, with individuals from Cherokee, Sylva, Bryson City, and beyond seeking the center during code purple winters. The center operates through volunteer staffing and preset standards to keep up to 20 guests safe and warm, including a closed-door policy at 8pm unless discussed otherwise with the center.
“Our goal is providing a warm place to stay…a place that’s safe for people to come and not feel that they’re in any danger, from the temperatures to the people they interact with here,” Jeff Helpman said.
“We are also able to offer showers, laundry services, as well as a kitchen where we can supply hot meals for the guests.”
Helpman is interested in expanding the center with cross-county collaboration. “This year was the first year we had outside organizations donate to us and that’s been a huge help. Our number one need right now is heat. We don’t have a HVAC system for the warming center space, so we run off electric heat, which doubles our bill and things like that.”
The warming center at The Grove Church. (BROOKLYN BROWN/One Feather photo)
RezHOPE Recovery & Consulting Services, a grassroots non-profit organization in Cherokee, was one of the outside organizations that provided help to the warming center this winter.
“If money wasn’t a limitation, we could offer mental health counseling, plug in other resources for permanent housing, job solutions, but right now we want to offer a warm, safe place to sleep and that’s what we’re doing.”
The center is a labor of neighborly love, which the Helpmans hope to grow. “I’m informed by my faith, and my faith tells me to love your neighbor, so this is kind of our way of doing that. We have the space, and when the nights are freezing, we don’t have anyone else down here, so why not?”
