HOUSTON – As millions go without electricity during record cold temperatures, Lakewood Church opens its doors as a warming center to help anyone in need of shelter.
The church is working with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and local organizations to be available. Lakewood church is providing beds, blankets and other needed supplies.
Church officials said no one will be turned away and can enter at either the entrance at Edloe or Norfolk streets.
On Tuesday, Pastor Joel Osteen visited the warming center and discussed his reasoning on why he decided to open his church’s doors.
“You know, as soon as we heard this storm was going to be a huge storm, we knew that we were in position to help,” Osteen said. “We care about the city, we care about our neighbors and so we feel blessed to be able to open the building, provide warmth and shelter.”
The pastor thanked the volunteers who are helping other people at the church and making the building a safe and warm place.
“We have amazing volunteers here. They love helping other people. So I believe we’re blessed to be a blessing and God’s given us this beautiful facility where we can help people (with) simple things to stay warm and have a place to stay,” Osteen said.
Because of the pandemic, he said the church is doing screenings as people enter the facility, providing sanitizer stations throughout the building and a multitude of bathrooms being restocked and cleaned. Osteen also said they have a lot of space in the building to spread people out.
Church officials said they don’t need any additional items due to the pool of volunteers they are utilizing but will continue to evaluate if that is a need and will let the public know.