Kent’s Severe Weather Shelter had a busy couple of weeks in the first half of February with the freezing overnight temperatures.

“Our nightly high was 36 people and the low was in the mid-teens,” said City Councilmember Brenda Fincher, who helped organize the shelter that operated from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. on the cold nights at Holy Spirit Parish, 318 Third Ave. S., in downtown.

During the week of Feb. 10, the shelter housed two families with children ranging from infancy to 14 years old, Fincher said in her council report.

“I want to thank the Kent AM Kiwanis and Mark Linden for their very generous donations of many gallons of freshly made soups, which were sensational and highly complimented,” Fincher said.

The council member also thanked the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and all of the wonderful people who dropped off supplies for the shelter – hot chocolate, crackers, sugar, cups, bowls, spoons, socks, blankets, jackets and more.

Others who helped out included volunteers from Holy Spirit Catholic Church; Christine Cain, who coordinated the program; City Councilmember Toni Troutner and Kent Lutheran Church for housing all of the supplies and getting things moved back and forth; the city of Kent multimedia and home repair teams to help get things moved; and Debbie Myers and SKCAC Industries for the individual bags that were handed out (including a hat, gloves, handwarmers, toothbrush, chapstick, etc).

“As is often said, ‘teamwork makes the dream work,’” Fincher said.