While we all know how brutal the summers in Arizona can be, nobody feels the brunt of the heat like those who live outside full-time. Unsheltered folks are subject to the elements in all its extremes, from the sub-freezing temperatures in winter to the baking sun during the summer.

A few years ago, the City of Tucson sought to address this issue by opening up city-run cooling centers throughout the city. Located in recreation centers (like Ward 3’s own Donna R Liggins Recreation Center in Mansfield Park), each ward was given one cooling center operated by the Parks and Recreation Department. These are air-conditioned rooms where people can get some respite from the heat outside, drink some water, and take a load off.

This year Ward 3 has partnered with St. Francis Shelter Community to offer our own Ward 3 Community Room as a cooling center Monday through Friday 1-5pm. St. Francis who formerly operated their own men’s shelter, also operates a food pantry out of Sacred Heart Church on Wednesdays and Saturdays 9-11am, as well as operating a shower truck for unhoused people every Wednesday 1-4pm, in collaboration with the City of Tucson’s Housing First Program. In addition to these other services they provide, starting on June 26th, they will help the Ward 3 office open our doors to those seeking respite from the heat.

With thousands of Tucson residents living outdoors, this new cooling center now provides unsheltered neighbors of Ward 3 two locations to go. In addition to air conditioning and water, the cooling center at Ward 3 will provide sack lunches, Gatorade, cots to lie down, a charging station, and volunteers to help connect guests to other services such as housing, job training, and rehabilitation services.

In past years, city-run cooling centers have opened when the temperature reached 110 degrees or higher. However, last year mayor and council discussed this policy and gave the Parks Department to lower the threshold. This year the six cooling centers run by Parks and Rec opened the first week of June, and will remain open throughout the summer. The St. Francis operated cooling center at the Ward 3 office opened earlier this week on June 26th, and will stay open until September 15th.

While Ward 3 only contains the two cooling centers, there are also some churches that operate cooling centers very near the Ward boundaries. Just south of Speedway on Main Ave in Ward 1, the Salvation Army runs a cooling center at their Hospitality House. Unlike the cooling centers at the Ward 3 Community Room or Donna Liggins Center, the Hospitality House is a massive operation almost entirely dedicated to services for unhoused people. They run a women’s shelter, a men’s shelter, and a day center for unsheltered folks. The space that serves as a cooling center during the afternoon is also a dining room in the morning and evening.

Similarly, the cooling center run out of Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in the Ward 6 neighborhood of Blenman-Elm. While Grace St. Paul does not operate a shelter, they use their church campus for their Joseph’s Pantry program, which feeds folks who need it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Whenever the temperature reaches 105 or higher, the keep the dining space open into the afternoon, keep the lights fairly dim and show movies in the space.

Cooling centers are a lifeline for those exposed to extreme heat. Besides being open to unsheltered neighbors, we also invite folks living with inadequate cooling systems in their homes to visit the cooling centers to escape the higher temperatures. Ward 3 has flyers showing the locations and amenities of all 4 cooling centers in the area and we invite our readers to come by and pick up some to hand out to anyone they think could benefit from the information. For more information about cooling centers outside of Ward 3, Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness has put together a wonderful resource list.

C.J. Boyd

He/Him

Ward 3 Council Aide

Council Member Kevin Dahl

1510 E. Grant Road

Tucson, AZ  85719

520-791-4711

On Wednesday and Saturday 9AM-11AM we host our ‘Food Pantry’; providing food, clothing and hygiene products to an average of 40-50 neighborhood families. Our Food Pantry is led by Shawn, Terry, Margie, Bob, Rick, Fred, Patrick and Linda, and has for years been providing food, hygiene products, and clothing for hundreds of our Amphi neighbors. Our Pantry provides order sheets for guests to review, and can pick from our current inventory, allowing our guests to pick the items they prefer. This adds a special, personalized human touch to our services. For many, visiting our pantry may possibly be the only human touch they receive for the whole day. We strive to provide a bit of hospitality to all and we like to go out of our way to make their lives a little bit better, every chance we get. We welcome you to come see us on Wednesday or Saturday, and see our volunteers in action.

Please call Shawn Milligan our Director of Operations, at 520-461-4943 to plan a visit. 

"The greatest gift one can give is thanksgiving.  In giving gift, we give what we can spare, but in giving thanks, we give ourselves." 

Brother David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness, the Heart Prayer