MEMPHIS, Tenn. — With excessive heat across the Mid-South, many are doing their best to stay cool, and that includes visiting the Hospitality Hub’s Cooling Center in downtown Memphis.
The center primarily serves the homeless by giving them a place to escape the heat between the hours of 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.
“We are preemptively opening up the cooling center to ensure particularly our unhoused neighbors are protected by the heat, and have a place to go inside,” Community Relations Manager Su Hartline of Hospitality Hub.
A line early this morning outside Hospitality Hub’s Cooling Center as many Memphians, especially those dealing with homelessness, try to beat the heat.
Joseph Olson, who has been living on the streets for 10 weeks, says the Cooling Center is the perfect place to spend the day.
“They give you a sack lunch, they give you a blanket, the AC’s on, so you lay in there take a little nap, until about 7 or 8 at night, but they feed you too while you’re in there,” said Joseph Olson.
And as we gear up for another scorching hot week, Hartline from the Hospitality Hub says the cooling center will be open all week.
“It’s not just a day here or there, it’s going to be a full week and temperatures are getting hotter, like we’re used to in Memphis but we’re here, we’re full summer, so we’re grateful for the cities support that we are opening up the cooling center to take care of neighbors,” said Hartline.
The city of Memphis says the cooling center is not the only place to stay cool, as the city has 25 community centers, 18 libraries, and four senior centers that all have AC.
Click here for more information on the Hospitality Hub’s cooling center.