White Flag shelter open in Bullitt County for those needing warm place to sleep

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A White Flag shelter is open in Bullitt County for those needing to get out of the cold.

The shelter opened at 8 p.m. Thursday. It's the first night of the winter season it will be open.

From now through the end of March, the shelter will be available from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. on nights when the temperatures get to 35 degrees or below.

"I am anticipating this year, we've already (had) 12 folks that have called and reserved beds for this evening and that's not even people without phones or anything like that," Perry Cooke, with Mark 12 Ministries, said. "Those are people that are already living in their cars and need a place to stay this evening."

Mark 12 Ministries is leasing the Shepherdsville Community Center from the city to be able to run the shelter.

Men, women and children are welcome but pets and animals are not allowed. Breakfast and dinner are also provided.

"We do feed dinner, which is graciously volunteered by different churches and organizations and then we also send them out, every morning after they have breakfast, with what we call a Blessing Bag," said Cooke. "And that Blessing Bag is going to have different things from a hygiene standpoint, but also is going to have food and snacks to kind of sustain them throughout the day."

Mark 12 Ministries has been pushing for a permanent homeless shelter in Bullitt County for years. There is currently not a 24/7 shelter.

"The need is great and it's growing," Cooke said. "We are, right now, constantly ministering to over 100 individuals who are living in cars, vans, at the rest stop, different places throughout the county."

The organization's director said the White Flag program has helped hundreds of people over the past five years.

Related Stories: