Wausau's new warming center needs volunteers - WAOW - Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, Sports

Wausau's new warming center needs more volunteers.

Leaders there say the center in downtown Wausau, which opened last Friday, needs more people to fill overnight shifts.

A volunteer training session took place Monday evening at the warming center, but leaders say the number of people who were trained isn't high enough.

Diane Borchardt, warming center coordinator, says it takes more than 28 volunteers to keep the center running seven days a week. The center is open from 9 p.m. Until 7 a.m., so all volunteers have to work overnight.

Borchardt says they'll need to find a lot more to keep the center open through the end of March.

"I've been working on schedules and right now I'm at kind of a stop because I've got you know, 10 days filled in," said Borchardt. She says if no one signs up for an overnight shift, one of the coordinators will have to fill in so the warming center doesn't have to close, but she obviously hopes more volunteers will step up.

Leaders say ten people have taken advantage of the warming center since it opened. That's lower than expected, but they think more people will show up as word gets out.