ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Code Purple season in Asheville and Buncombe County is here. As the area deals with bitter cold weather, all hands are on deck at BeLoved Asheville.
BeLoved Asheville’s co-directors Amy Cantrell and Ponkho Bermejo have spent years working toward a goal of giving warmth and shelter to everyone who needs it.
“I was in the street 10 years ago,” Bermejo said. “I used to live in the street, so I know how it feels. From this understanding, I know what I wish I see when I was in the street.”
Gestures like these made a big difference in Bermejo’s journey.
“The feeling that I know how feels, and I know how it feels when somebody gave me a jacket when I was not having anything,” Bermejo said.
Cantrell mourns a woman she lost in 2016 on the first night of a cold spell.
“We’ve had people die out on the streets,” Cantrell said. “Folks that we loved and lost, and so this is a mission of our heart to save lives. We know over the years that we have absolutely saved lives from hypothermia and frostbite.”
This week is what Cantrell describes as a “dangerous shift,” and one of the most important weeks for their organization to be prepared.
“Compared to a winter where our bodies have acclimated and where people are aware that it’s going to be cold most every night, a lot of people are caught off guard by this,” Cantrell said.
A difference of around 50 degrees in just a few days will cause this.
“When the weather tells us that people are in an emergency situation, that’s when we want to roll out, make sure that people have warming gear and know about our Code Purple shelters and how to get there,” Cantrell said.
Those Code Purple shelters include the ABCCM Veterans Restoration Quarters and the Salvation Army for single men and ABCCM Transformation Village for single women and women with children.
When a Code Purple is called, bus transit through Asheville Rides Transit is free to and from Code Purple sites.
BeLoved Asheville continues passing out flyers, as many people are not aware of the sudden changes in temperature.
“When you don’t have access to internet, you don’t know the time is going to change, it’s 70 right now and the next day going to be 20s,” Bermejo said.
A change that means it’s time for Cantrell and Bermejo to head back out on the road.
“Somebody showed me love at the time when I was in the street,” Bermejo said. “So it’s my time, and now that I have the opportunity. I have to show love to somebody that is in this position.”