'Killer Cold': Tulsa Homeless Shelters Preparing For Upcoming Freezing Temperatures

Homeless shelters in Tulsa are preparing for the upcoming freezing temperatures.

They are collecting donations to be able to handle the amount of people coming inside and focusing on getting the word out about the cold weather.

Steven Whitaker, the CEO of John 3:16 Mission says the main priority is making sure people know these upcoming freezing temperatures are beyond dangerous and people need to be inside.

"At John 3:16 Mission we call it Killer Cold, and almost every time we have an event like this somebody chose to stay out or something happened and they were out and didn't get word," he said.

He said they rely on word of mouth to let people know about the cold.

They also have a team that goes to encampments to tell people about what's coming.

He says having a warmer day before the freeze hits can be dangerous.

"People are living in fight or flight mode sometimes and so if they feel a warm day, they go back to what's familiar, where they feel safe, and that might be an encampment, and then 24 hours later, this time of year, it can be zero degrees," he said.

Over at the Tulsa Day Center, Monica Martin, the director of development, says the family room is at max capacity while the clinic is seeing double the patients.

"A lot of people that we are helping right now are just coming in for clinic, hot showers, some food and clothes," she said.

The center averages about 300 people a day, which is above normal.

Monica said they're just making sure they have enough supplies to take care of them.

She said the racks of men's clothes are empty and they are desperate to fill them up.

"Men's clothing, men's tennis shoes, men's boots, especially with the snow coming, the rain, the cold weather, thick socks we're always needing as well," she said.

If you have men's clothes to donate, you can drop them off at the Tulsa Day Center.

John 3:16 Mission says it needs bottled water as well as hats and gloves.