Tri-Citians working to help people stay cool as temperatures soar
Mark McKee made the rounds on blue barrels set up around Kennewick and Pasco.
The faith-based nonprofit Clean Sweep Tri-Cities that he helps lead set up the barrels in five spots. Each one is loaded with water and ice, and is available for anyone needing to get a cool drink.
The busiest one is at Keewaydin Park in downtown Kennewick behind the library. It was filled with water bottles Tuesday morning, and McKee said would be empty by that night.
The barrels are just one of several community efforts to help people who can’t escape the heat. From cooling shelters to handing out water, community members are coming together to help those who can’t escape the record heat wave.
The efforts come as the Tri-Cities looks at more than a week of triple-digit temperatures.
For McKee, the idea for the barrels came from a sister ministry, Jewels Helping Hands in Spokane where they started with 5-gallon buckets.
“We just knew it was going to be bigger than that, much bigger, so we went with barrels,” he said.
People have volunteered their time to get water and ice for the buckets. McKee has shared photos to the group’s Facebook page. One person dropped off nearly 100 bottles of water for the Keewaydin location Monday evening.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “People take a picture of them giving back to the community, and they send it to me and I put the shout out. ... It’s all for others.”
And Columbia Basin Ice has volunteered to give ice to help keep the water cool.
The barrels are set up at:
Cooling Shelters
About 50 to 60 people a day have been visiting the cooling centers at the Union Gospel Mission’s men’s and women’s shelters in Pasco. That’s in addition to about 90 people currently staying at the shelter.
They’re also offering showers at certain times of the day.
The group also has handing out water and sports drinks to those who need them.
Andrew Porter, the mission’s executive director, said so far he hasn’t heard of anyone sickened by the heat.
If people want to help, the mission has an option on its website to print out a card with directions to the shelter, and if they can provide the person with a bus ticket.
The city of Pasco plans to offer cooling shelter options later on Tuesday, but they have a water bottle filling station set up at Volunteer Park.
Kennewick and Richland have opened buildings to people looking to get out of the heat.
For people who want to get away from the heat in Richland. They can stop at:
- Richland Community Center at 500 Amon Park Drive from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.
- Richland Public Library at 955 Northgate Drive from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday to Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday.
- Richland City Hall at 625 Swift Blvd. from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership set up a cooling station along Kennewick Avenue.
Along with that the city of Kennewick has space for about 200 people in its Keewaydin Community Center at 500 S. Auburn St. The doors are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. between June 29 and July 2 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 3.
The facility has bottled water, wi-fi, a pool table, Nintendo gaming systems and a seating area.
“If people come there we assume that they need it,” she said. “We have a nice space where people can come if their AC is broken or they don’t have AC at all. We want to make sure they have a spot to use while this extreme heat is going on,” she said.
In West Richland, the Richland School District has opened up the district’s West Richland schools from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. That includes Tapteal Elementary, Enterprise Middle School and Leona Libby Middle School.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 12:58 PM.