Gypsy the dog is tucked away in a wagon prepared to travel from the cold shelter at the First Presbyterian Church in Bend. 

Deschutes County shelters have been full during the recent onslaught of cold weather, with at least 160 people using them each night last weekend, when temperatures dropped below zero, according to tallies from Bend, Redmond and Sisters.

The number is only a small fraction of the more than 900 people estimated to be living without shelter in Deschutes County on any given night, according to the 2023 Point in Time Count.

Temperatures reached at least -4 degrees in Bend on Sunday, which led shelters across Central Oregon to expand their capacity and open extra shelters for people living outdoors.

Shane Beyer, 50, didn’t need the National Weather Service to know how cold it was.

“You stand outside your face hurts, your lungs hurt,” said Beyer, who stayed at Bend First Presbyterian Church Monday night.

The church sheltered between 30 and 40 people each night of the recent weekend cold snap after opening at the request of Deschutes County’s public health department.

Beyer, who planned to find a place outdoors to sleep once the shelter closed Tuesday, called the added shelter capacity “vital” because of the near fatal conditions over the weekend.

Most of those who stayed at the church between Friday and Tuesday were single men, but they were joined by a few were couples, a father and son and between five and seven dogs each night, said Karen Bates, the team leader for church’s hunger and homelessness task force.

Before closing, the church sent two vans full of people to the Lighthouse Navigation Center, which is Bend’s only 24/7 homeless shelter run by nonprofit Shepherd’s House Ministries.

The Navigation Center saw an average of 100 people between Friday and Monday despite reduced capacity due to renovations, according to Aaron Mitchel, a spokesperson for Shepherd’s House. At the nonprofit’s Redmond Center, an average of 32 people stayed between Jan. 11 and Monday.

In La Pine, a nondenominational church called The Door offers an overnight warming shelter from December through March.

Around eight to 10 people have been staying each night, said Chad Carpenter, one of the church’s pastors.

“People probably expect there’s not a lot of homeless in south county because they’re out in the woods,” he said.

But there are an estimated 86 people experiencing homelessness on a given night in La Pine, and freezing temperatures drive even the most independent of people to seek shelter, Carpenter said.

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In Sisters, the City Council approved an emergency shelter in the city’s now vacant chamber of commerce building. Local nonprofit Sisters Cold Weather Shelter, which tried to open a permanent location for emergency shelter earlier this year to no avail, operated the shelter for roughly four people each night of the cold.

Due to a shortage of volunteers, the state sent a small handful of people from the department of human service’s office of resiliency and emergency management to help the Sisters shelter.

“We had less than 24 hours notice to open the shelter,” said Sharlene Weed, one of the nonprofit’s board members.

Much of Sisters’ homeless population lives on forestland on the outskirts of town. Weed estimates there are roughly 100 people there.

“It was last minute for the folks out there too,” she said.

Upon closing the shelter Wednesday, when temperatures rose above zero, Weed and other volunteers purchased a hotel room for one elderly man, drove another shelter guest to work and ensured another made it safely back to a camper in the forest.

People living outdoors are at a higher risk of experiencing adverse health effects and death due to the cold. Janice Garceau, Deschutes County’s health services director, wrote in an email Tuesday that delays are common when reporting deaths but that there were no known cases of people dying due to living outside in the cold.

“At this time, Epidemiological data shows there was a minor increase in cold-weather related illness visits to the ED (emergency department),” Garceau said, “but we have not seen anything indicating any deaths attributed to the cold.”

Cold weather tips

Deschutes County Public Health recommends the following during winter weather conditions:

• Try to stay indoors when weather is extremely cold, especially if winds are high.

• Make trips outside as brief as possible, if you must go outdoors.

• When going outside during very cold weather, adults and children should wear: a hat, a scarf or knit mask to cover face and mouth, sleeves snug at the wrist, insulated and waterproof mittens or gloves, several layers of loose-fitting, thermal wear or material that “wicks” the skin, a water-resistant or tightly woven coat and two layers of socks with boots or shoes that are waterproof and have flexible sole.

• Walking on ice is extremely dangerous. Many cold-weather injuries result from falls on ice-covered sidewalks, steps, driveways and porches. Keep your steps and walkways as free of ice as possible. You can do this by using rock salt or another chemical de-icing compound. Applying sand or cat litter to walkways can also reduce the risk of slipping.

If you need warm shelter, call 211 for warming shelter locations.