A man died on the steps of my church Sunday night

Sunday night, a homeless man died on the steps just outside the entrance to the men’s drop-in shelter at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, WIsconsin, the church I serve. I don’t know much more than that. Apparently he had left Grace to go to one of the overflow shelters to spend the night. I don’t know what the cause of death was. I don’t know if his death was at all related to the brutally cold weather.

I blogged last week about last-minute scrambling to make sure there were facilities open during the day on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. On Sunday, local anti-homelessness organization Porchlight adjusted its hours so that men could stay indoors until the Central Library opened at 1 p.m. And yesterday, provisions were made by the County and by Porchlight to provide transportation between the shelter at Grace (where intake occurs, meals are provided, and there are shower and laundry facilities) and the two overflow shelters at St. John’s Lutheran and First United Methodist Church.

Yesterday was the first Monday of the month, Grace’s night to provide the meal for shelter guests and other community people. Because of the cold and worries about transportation for our volunteers, we made alternative arrangements to serve the meal down in the shelter. The menu was already less elaborate than we usually like to provide. The guys had pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw and chips. Our sexton Russ was the chef.