LEWISVILLE, Texas — Chanel McAfee never thought she’d be sleeping on a cot next to the stage of a church fellowship hall with her two sons next to her, but she didn’t have any other choice. 

“I’m actually new to Texas,” she said unwrapping a cold sandwich handed to her by a Salvation Army volunteer and looking out the window at the snow-covered parking lot. “They said I brought this [weather] with me, haha!”

McAfee said she and her boys just moved to Lewisville about a month before Texas got hit by an unprecedented winter storm. Like many in the community, their apartment lost power early in the storm and the lights and heat are off.

“It came on twice for like 20 minutes and then after that, nothing,” said McAfee.

New to the area, she didn’t have anyone nearby to turn to for help. Her closest option is her sister, but she lives too far away to safely travel in the winter weather conditions. 

With nowhere to turn and the nights getting colder, McAfee took a step she never thought she’d have to take. She drove with her sons to a Salvation Army shelter up the street and asked for help.

That shelter on Wednesday was as packed as it could get. Many occupying the cots in the gym were people who’d sought help from shelters like this before, people who are unfortunately dealing with homelessness. But many in fellowship hall are Texans with homes to go to, but no power in those homes to keep their families warm and safe from the elements.

Patricia Buibe was right there with her. After weathering three nights without heat in their freezing home, she, her husband and their young son finally got enough of a cell phone signal to discover the warming shelter was close by.

“It’s very freezing inside the house, especially when you have little ones in the house, it’s very painful to see them suffering,” said Buibe.

Salvation Army Major Paul Gilliam said it really isn’t an easy thing for a lot of people to come and seek help, but in this week’s storm put almost everyone in a dire situation.

“Some folks have said they haven’t had power for days. So when you get that and the freezing temperatures, there’s nothing we can do but let people come into a warm place,” said Gilliam.

For Gilliam and the Salvation Army, the extra people in need and strange circumstances made a difficult situation for them. The Salvation Army was forced to find more space to accommodate more people and respect social distance protocols. The storm also left them with fewer volunteers. In Lewisville, Gilliam’s team found serious aid from a local church.

“The Lakeland Baptist Church has been very generous to open their doors and let us use their facility,” he said.

Other shelters also opened at a nearby mall and in any space with power that organizations could find available this week.

On Friday, as temperatures finally began to recover and the power grid stabilized, many of those shelters finally started to close down because people could return to their homes.

McAfee said she was forever grateful to everyone at the shelter who helped her family get through. She said even the thin cots are pretty nice.

“They feel good, it’s better than the floor!” She joked.

Although asking for help is sometimes tough, McAfee and others at the shelter said they felt no shame in doing what they had to do.