MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — A game of bingo at First United Methodist Church in Mount Vernon helps pass the time and keep thoughts from straying to the bone chilling temperatures outside.
The church is one of three day shelters around Mount Vernon now open to warm the homeless as temperatures sink into the single digits.
Rebecca Schofield is homeless and confined to a wheel chair.
She had to give her dog of nine years away to keep it safe from the cold.
"Without this place I'd be sitting outside in that cold," she says. "It's miserable."
It's dangerously cold outside with very limited options for anyone stuck in the elements.
"It's definitely difficult," says Sarah Vogt of the homeless advocacy group Welcome Home Skagit, which is running the daytime shelter. "There's no where to go to stay warm. There's nowhere to go to use the restroom. Many businesses like the library are closed down during snow."
Six plows loaded with ice melt are making the rounds through Bellingham in preparation for the snow and ice that lie ahead.
By mid-afternoon on Monday, temperatures were at 17 degrees and dropping steadily.
The record low for this date in Bellingham is 12 degrees set 32 years ago.
Wind chills are expected to be between zero and 10 degrees Monday night.
Public Works director Eric Johnston says keeping the steep hills around town clear will be an uphill battle, but his crews are ready for whatever comes their way.
"We run a pretty extensive deicing system where we produce our own salt brine and apply that to the street before it starts to get snowy and icy," he says. "What that lets us do is once it starts to warm up, that snow and ice comes up pretty quickly. Our crews started Sunday morning and will be working around the clock, probably through Christmas."
Back at the Mount Vernon shelter, a cup of coffee, warm meal and warm hearts help Rebecca Schofield and approximately 20 other unsheltered people fend off the cold.
"People have been really kind and really good to me so I'm really grateful," she says. "We all are."
To find a cold weather shelter near you, call 211, or visit the emergency resources database online.