A cooling centre has opened at Royal City Mission in Downtown Guelph.
Lead pastor Kevin Coghill said the cooling centre opened on June 8.
"I think they're super important, especially for the unsheltered population," said Coghill. "Right now, until malls and stuff opened up, there was very little access to washrooms and water, which is a big concern of ours."
The cooling centre is open Monday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Royal City Mission, 50 Quebec St.
"We're hoping that if there is enough demand we will increase those hours, but we didn't want to stretch staffing too far yet because we want to see what the response was going to be."
It is the first cooling centre in the city to open this year, filling a need for man who in the past have used such facilities as the Guelph Public Library, City Hall and the Drop In Centre to get out of stifling heat.
"We had a little bit of response at first, but not a lot. But we haven't seen high temperatures really for more than a day at a time," said Coghill. "I think that makes a big difference. You can handle 31 C for a day when the next day it's 20 C, but when it's very hot several days in a row, that's really when you see the need rise."
Light snacks and water will be provided by staff and those attending will be screened at the door for COVID-19, Coghill said.
"There's mandatory screening at the door for COVID right now," he said.
The location could be busy later this week. with the weather forecast calling for temperatures in excess of 25 C from Wednesday through to next Tuesday.
