SAN ANTONIO — Susana Segura stocked up on bread on Monday morning.
It’s not for her. It’s for the houseless people in the below freezing temperatures in San Antonio.
“I don’t think people on the streets necessarily understand how bad it was going to get. We’ve been out for two weeks warning people,” Segura said.
She’s a part of Bread and Blankets Mutual Aid, an organization that helps people experiencing homelessness.
“I think people who are out on the street think ‘we are tough, we can take it,’ and if you fall asleep, the hypothermia can set in, your heart could stop,” Segura said.
The freezing weather forced the San Antonio to cancel the nation’s largest MLK March in the nation. Segura still walked her way to pockets of town where the unhoused were bundled up at.
“You don’t want to go to a shelter?” she asked a woman.
People poured rock salt on areas of the city that were icy, and when the roads cleared, San Antonio was back to business.
“Rain, shine, snow, ice, we are going to be here no matter what, of course, as safely as possible,” Ben Ontiveros, co-owner of Eight Ball Coffee, said.
The coffee shop recently transitioned from a truck to a brick-and-mortar, and Ontiveros says it’s rewarding providing a space to work at on a day like this.
“Seeing everybody come in and connect with each other. Friends seeing other friends and people using this space as an office almost, which is totally fine, it’s pretty much what we kind of wanted since the beginning,” Ontiveros said.
Ontiveros plans to keep Eight Ball Coffee open the rest of the week as the temperatures remain below freezing on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
Segura uses coffee to build trust with the woman on the street. She said she doesn’t pressure folks into receiving help.
“She may have some mental health issues, so she may not want to be around people,” Segura said. “A lot of times they like to be alone, so I just try to respect their privacy.”
Segura knows Tuesday will be much colder and hopes she can save the lives of people on the cold streets.