Saskatoon’s Prairie Harm Reduction said it will be open 24/7 this week to help those battling the elements from winter’s first blast.

The organization said they are doing this because the City of Saskatoon does not currently have a cold weather plan to help those in need.

“We made a decision on Monday knowing the snow was coming and these temperatures were changing and knowing the cold weather strategy for the city hadn’t been activated yet,” said Prairie Harm Reduction Executive Director Kayla DeMong.

“We knew people would need somewhere to sleep, rest and stay out of the cold – so we decided to stay open 24/7 for a week.”

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DeMong said Prairie Harm Reduction could help accommodate about 45 people at a time, but she mentioned Tuesday that they have already handled over 70 people.

She added that some of those people came and went and not all stayed there full time.

DeMong suggests that the decision to remain open 24/7 has stretched their resources and it won’t be sustainable for them after this week.

“It’s not something we can sustain. It’s incredibly expensive. The resources needed to operate 24/7 is just something we just can’t sustain,” she said.

“We have staff and management who have rearranged their schedules to cover these shifts. It’s not something we can continue to ask of them.”

DeMong feels that while the work between the city and the province has started earlier than in previous years, she thinks the two sides are late to the game every year.

“The strategy is starting to work earlier than it used to be, but we’re still halfway into November and almost into December and the warming shelters have yet to open and function the way they were designed to,” she explained.

The City of Saskatoon responded to the question why there is no cold weather plan in place at this time.

The city said a report to council on the shelter heating plan will be made available to the public on Nov. 20 on the public agenda around 1:30 p.m.

The city added its Winter emergency plan was revised in October and mentioned that it consists of over 30 different partners.

Since Prairie Harm Reduction is open 24/7 the rest of the week, DeMong is asking for donations of socks and food to help keep people warm and fed.