Red Cross Suggests Two Warming Centers to South Chicago Heights

A warming shelter at the South Chicago Heights Senior Center might work, but the committee overseeing its possibilities has some ideas to mull over first, Fire Chief Larry Nardoni told the Village Board of Trustees at a meeting Monday night.

Nardoni met with the Red Cross earlier that day, he said. The organization told him it would prefer the village designate two locations as warming shelter sites, rather than just one.  At this point, only the Senior Center, at 3140 Enterprise Drive, has been identified.

Overall, the Red Cross reacted very positively to the village’s plans, he said, adding “It’ll be a win-win,” both in terms of the Red Cross’ mission and the village’s needs. For example, in the event of a weather event or other situation the Red Cross would provide personnel for the site, as well as cots, blankets and food.  

Still at issue is how to get a generator to the site, because the Senior Center building doesn’t have one. There is currently an unused generator on location at the village’s Well No. 4, Nardoni told the board. The village has not used its wells since 2001, when the switch was made from municipal wells to Lake Michigan water. 

The generator is available but also quite heavy, and obtaining the means to move it by way of heavy equipment could be expensive, Nardoni said. An important step will be determining whether it will be more cost effective to move the generator or buy a new one.

At this point, only two emergency warming shelters exist in the area, in Chicago Heights and Richton Park, Nardoni added.