Emergency shelters worked overtime to help homeless during ice storm and cold

It's Feb. 5. Church-based emergency shelter worked overtime, dipped into reserves to shield homeless from last week' cold. Pentagon weighs in on VMI's future. York County makes waves on no-wake zones.

Feb 05, 2026

Volunteer sets up beds at King of Glory Lutheran Church in this 2025 photo (Williamsburg Watch)

Last week’s ice storm and bitter cold was particularly hard on homeless people and the group that shelters them in our area.

Sixteen churches work with the Community of Faith Mission to provide overnight shelter and food for homeless people during the winter months from mid November to mid March.

But last week, the shelter had to remain open during the day Sunday and Monday, said COFM Executive Director Donnie McDaniel. And the mission had to use its reserve funds to pay for the extra expense and for hotels when one of the churches reached capacity.

The emergency shelter normally operates at night. The clients generally go to work or stay with friends and family during the day, McDaniel said. On particularly cold days, they can go to warming stations that open up in places like library and recreation centers., she said.

But the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority’s buses were unable to run right after the freezing rain coated our roads, so there was no way for the homeless to get to warming centers.

“We had to staff (church shelters) and have volunteers and food for the guests,” McDaniel said.

The cost of running the overnight shelter has nearly quadrupled as the program expanded from its founding in 2012, to more than $1,500 a night, she said.

“Since then, we now have 6 shelter managers. an assistant, an executive director, a case manager, and we have to have security.”

McDaniel said the mission dipped into its reserves to handle the extra $2,000 cost of the daytime shelter and hotel space.

“When it gets cold like that, many people who will stay in the woods choose not to,” she added. “And so then they come out of the woods, which creates a capacity issue. Some of our churches are able to go up to 30 guests. but some can’t. And even with 30 guests, we hit capacity.”

That meant COFM had to look at renting hotel rooms for some of their clients, she said.

The 16 local churches that participate in the program take turns hosting a weeklong overnight shelter.

Under local zoning laws, she said, “we’re only allowed to have a shelter one week at a time, at one place, and then we have to move on.”

Want to help? McDaniel said COFM accepts donations at this site.

York County’s creeks have a proliferation of no wake signs, and no one seems to know why they all went up over the decades.

Boaters have complained of being pulled over for violating no-wake zones that were improperly marked, or put up by individuals without the county’s permission.

“There’s really some confusion that needs to be cleared up,” said District 3 Supervisor Wayne Drewry at the board’s work session Tuesday night. He and District 4 representative G. Stephen Roane, Jr. held a meeting last month with about 100 boaters to hear their concerns about the no wake signs that sprung up over the years, the last one in 2007.

Public Works Director Earl Anderson recommended the board approve a list of no wake zones it wants to have enforced by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, and put up new signs with the ordinance authorizing them clearly marked.

Supervisors emphasized they were not trying to dramatically expand no wake zones, but simply rationalize their need.

County Dockmaster James Scruggs told the board the VMRC advised him they would not enforce any no wake zones until the matter is clarified.

Board vice chair Thomas G. Shepperd Jr. warned there should be clear research behind each sign justifying its existence: “Do they really need to be there?”

Shepperd advocated a take it slow approach to get hard data and public input on every no wake zone that remains.

But County Attorney Richard Hill warned the board that if the county does not take steps to rationalize its wake zones, the VMRC can resume writing citations at any time. He said the existing signs were requested by the county at some point and approved by the state.

A public hearing will be held at the supervisors’ next meeting Feb. 17.