As dangerously cold weather and precipitation settle in over the region, a local nonprofit wants people to know help is available.
The Rev. Terry Pierce, a priest with St. James Episcopal Church, said her church’s ministry, Taylor Center for Assistance and Navigation, is currently providing emergency hotel rooms to those without a warm place to stay.
“We are a limited ministry,” Pierce said. “We focus on emergency shelter during hot- or cold-weather events. Primarily we are concerned about keeping people safe.”
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According to a TaylorCAN spokesman, by Tuesday, Jan. 7, 15 people had already been housed or booked into hotel rooms, and the nonprofit was delivering food provided by Meals on Wheels.
However, the number needing shelter is expected to rise with below-freezing temperatures and precipitation forecast for tonight and Thursday, said TaylorCAN spokesman Alex Allrich, who has been volunteering with the organization since late 2023.
Pierce, whose sister Cynthia Pierce died of hypothermia at age 72 at an assisted-living facility that lost power during Winter Storm Uri, said St. James’s ministry also arose out of the ice storm of February 2021.
“When that freeze started, I saw a post somewhere that Gerald Anderson was seeking support to house people,” Pierce recalled of the Bill Pickett Educational Foundation’s executive director, who is now also a board member of TaylorCAN. “We as a church contacted him, and that’s how we got involved.”
Anderson is also a member of the City Council.
Since that time, the organization has evolved to focus almost exclusively on dangerous weather events and has been able to raise more than $20,000 through the generosity of St. James parishioners — as well as the wider Taylor community, Allrich said.
“We use the TaylorCAN designation because we have invited people who aren’t part of the church to help us serve the homeless,” Pierce said. “Any funds raised for TCAN are segregated and are exclusively used to serve the unhoused.”
In 2024, TaylorCAN was able to find lodgings for 39 people for an average of two to three nights, Allrich said.
“Our basic operating rule is if a forecast says it’s going to get below 32 degrees, we go on alert, and that’s our default yes,” Allrich said. “If someone comes to us outside of a cold-weather event, it becomes a case-by-case basis.”
Providing shelter during frigid lows and ample water when the mercury climbs are two crucial services, Pierce said.
“There are a number of other ministries in Taylor that do some things that are similar to what we do, but we have a limited focus, which is when it gets cold, we try to make sure people are not out on the streets,” the priest added. “When it gets hot, we try to make sure that water is available.”
In addition, TaylorCAN board Chairman Rick Von Pfeil said help is not limited to homeless individuals, but also to those who have lost power during major cold-weather snaps.
“We assist people who have lost electricity due to power outages,” he said. “That could happen to any neighborhood, and there are financially challenged families in all neighborhoods.”
Regardless, Pierce said she wants to make sure no one in Taylor dies on the street due to being without shelter — or without heat.
“When people lose their heat, that is an emergency,” Pierce said. “I am passionate about this.”
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“When people lose their heat, that is an emergency.”
– The Rev. Terry Pierce, Taylor Center for Assistance and Navigation
