Egan Warming Centers, a program administered by St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County (SVdP), concluded its 2024-25 operations at the end of March, after an active season that included a record 13 consecutive open nights in one cold stretch. The mostly volunteer Egan team recently conducted end-of-season work days to clear shelter sites used this winter, and tallied statistics that reflect what a busy season it was.
Egan Warming Centers volunteers greet a guest with a blanket during an open shelter night in late 2024.
During the season that started in November, Egan Warming Centers opened 25 times — six short of a record 31 activations in 2022-23. Egan’s first open night of the season came on Thanksgiving day, Nov. 28, and its final activation was on Feb. 12. During that time, Egan served 7,118 guests with 881 volunteers contributing a combined total of 17,500 service hours.
Just as Egan volunteers pause to refresh and reflect following another season providing compassionate care to unsheltered individuals with no other safe place to go on dangerously cold nights, they will ready themselves for next season with some leadership changes on the way. Tim Black, who has served as Egan’s program manager since 2019, recently stepped away from that role to support SVdP in a new capacity with the agency’s development team.
“The mission of St. Vincent de Paul and Egan Warming Centers is simple, critical and more important than ever: we help people who need help,” Black says. “I am fortunate to have been part of the Egan family of volunteers, staff and community partners. Egan volunteers are superheroes in our community, and their life-saving work inspires and carries me every day.”
Stepping in for Black as SVdP’s new Homeless & Shelter Services Emergency Response Manager is NJ Sevitz-Poarch. An Egan volunteer herself for two seasons, Sevitz-Poarch was hired by SVdP in June 2024 as an assistant to the director of the Lindholm Social Service Office and later led training for new staff on the Homeless Management Information System.
“The guests who visit Egan are some of our most vulnerable neighbors, many who do not have any support system except programs like Egan,” she says. “It truly takes a village to orchestrate the lifesaving warming centers. I am excited to begin my journey, serving with our amazing volunteers, St Vinnie’s staff, and community members.”
Challenges ahead for the Egan program include securing enough shelter sites and trained volunteers to accommodate activations through the 2025-26 season. Egan will present several new-volunteer orientations this summer to provide the required training. Anyone interested can visit www.eganwarmingcenters.org, where details will appear as trainings are scheduled.