With the summer approaching and Delaware’s weather predictions looking hot with high heat indexes, Friendship House knew there was more we could do to help people experiencing homelessness in our community find heat relief. FH already manages Code Purple in New Castle County, which is called when overnight temperatures drop below 20 degrees. When we call a Code Purple, we partner with local faith communities to provide emergency overnight shelter to keep those most vulnerable safe overnight.

During the summer months, we know the daytime temperatures are the most worrisome. Therefore, we have kicked off Code Orange which provides people inside heat relief when the temperatures are over 100 degrees. We reached out to our partnering faith communities who often assist us with Code Purple and received an overwhelming response in support of implementing this plan. We hosted our first Code Orange on July 4th, a day when our Empowerment Centers were closed for the holiday. Since then, we continue to call Code Orange on days when our Empowerment Centers are closed and there are limited resources and places to go for a person experiencing homelessness.

Thank you to all the volunteers and faith community partners who have made this possible. It has truly been remarkable to see the outpouring of support from our community!