La Crosse Salvation Army ready to act as cooling center for those in need

Shelter anticipates being open all Thursday, Friday night

In the winter, the Salvation Army acts as a warming center for the homeless and others.

This week, because the mercury could hit 100 degrees in La Crosse, as soon as Thursday, the Salvation Army will be cooling people off.

“We are anticipating that Thursday and Friday nights, we’ll be open overnight as a cooling center,” Julie Nelson with the Salvation Army said.

Generally the shelter gets just a handful of people coming in for air conditioning during heat waves. And, since that hasn’t happened yet this summer, Nelson said so far, the shelter hasn’t had to take in more than the people who are there for personal reasons.