Through harsh Montana winters, we are a Low Barrier facility to save lives!

We accept people as they are. We provide a warm safe shelter for individuals or families who may have no other option.

The mission of the Flathead Warming Center is to save lives, link resources, and encourage dignity through low-barrier access to a warm safe place for those in need. We provide seasonal, low barrier access to night shelter services regardless of an individual or family’s personal barriers to housing security. We provide showers, laundry, light food, and onsite resources throughout the year.

The Flathead Warming Center is founded on Christian principles. “We love because He first loved us.” ~ 1 John 4:19. It really is that simple. We are called to love and care for those in need.  Everyone needs shelter and it is not our mission to judge who deserves shelter and who does not, because we understand that we do not get what we deserve either. It is because of our faith that we support the mission of the Flathead Warming Center.

It is in faith that we take each next step, without knowing where the funding will come from. We believe the Flathead Warming Center is the right thing to do and we understand it will take many in our community to make it happen!

The Flathead Warming Center is low barrier. Any requirement for an individual to listen to our beliefs or to participate in our faith can be a barrier for individuals and families to feel welcomed inside the shelter. We will not force our faith on anyone. Everyone is welcome! We only want to love in ways that make others wonder why we are different. We want to share a light that is so amazing, our neighbors will want to know the source of it.

2022 / 2023 Season Highlights

202 shelter nights

354 Unique guests

326 hours Resource Links on-site 

1174 times a guest was Linked on-site

+10,124 meals served

3601 showers

1731 guest loads of laundry

149 First Responder referral beds

364 times a guest was turned away due to capacity (186 previous season)

24 guests sent off to treatment

17 guests- assistance get to confirmed natural resources

2011  on-site volunteer hours

73 NEW volunteers

10,100 shelter stays

$33.12 cost per stay

210 slept in a place not meant for human habitation the night prior

292 with a disabling condition

30 Veterans

33 Straight from an institutional setting

52 under 25 yrs old

32 age 55-61

36 age 62 and over

12 children under age of 9

Summer Services 2023 (May, June, July totals)

143 individuals

35- 40 average number of Guests per service day

64.75 hours of resource LINKs brought in to the center

185 times a guest LINKed to on-site resources

1,187 Meals served by our community

812 Showers

320 Guest Laundry

5 Guests sent off to inpatient treatment

1 assistance to get to confirmed natural resources

1046 Volunteer Hours (includes volunteer coordinators hours and Trip and Travis)

5 New Volunteers

2021 / 2022 Season Highlights

349 unique individuals served (October – April)

We saw a significant increase of the elderly/ fixed income population in our community needing shelter. We sheltered 32 individuals ages 55-61 and we sheltered 27 individuals 62 years and older.

A HARD fact: With a nightly capacity of 40 beds, we had to turn away individuals 186 times throughout the winter due to not having enough capacity.

2020 / 2021 Season Highlights

207 unique individuals served

3,120 shelter stays

More than 76% of our guests struggle with mental illness, other disability, and/ or struggle with addiction

average stay is 15 nights

30% Women / 70% Men

15 Veterans

36 domestic violence survivors

65% have lived in the Flathead for greater than one year

42% have lived in the Flathead for greater than 10 years

24% have lived in the Flathead for 20 years or more