As Temperatures Drop, Columbia Shelters Prepare for About 190 People on Friday - KOMU

Columbia winter shelters will prepare for about 190 people on Friday as temperatures drop and the city’s Opportunity Campus faces its first winter season.

Two separate programs at the Voluntary Action Center’s Opportunity Campus are ramping up operations to handle the surge. Waypoint, the campus’s year-round overnight shelter run by the Voluntary Action Center, could fill all 150 of its regular beds for the first time on Friday night, according to Shelter Director Jessica McNear.

McNear expects about 170 people to seek shelter. If those regular beds fill up entirely, staff are prepared to set up 20 additional cots in hallways and other open spaces.

Just across the same campus, New Day Columbia runs a daytime drop-in center. Formerly known as Turning Point, the organization will open its facility as an emergency overnight warming center if temperatures drop below 25 degrees, KOMU reported.

As temperatures drop, Columbia shelters prepare for about 190 people on Friday — KOMU 8 News

Executive Director Darren Morton said his team has cots and blankets ready for the freezing weather. The two programs coordinate closely. If New Day opens its doors overnight, people can stay there even if Waypoint still has open space next door.

McNear estimated that about 20 people could stay at New Day during a cold snap. She added that staff would find extra space if more guests arrived than anticipated, including using office rooms if necessary.

Morton told KOMU.

Waypoint first opened on July 13, taking over operations from Room at the Inn, which served as Columbia’s former overnight shelter on Ashley Street. That older location held 80 to 90 cots, according to the Columbia Missourian. During a severe cold spell in February 2025, a Room at the Inn supervisor told KOMU that the older facility was checking in about 100 people a night.

McNear told KOMU.

In its first 53 days of operation, Waypoint filled 130 to 140 beds a night, the Columbia Missourian reported in September. Of the 151 people the shelter served during that initial stretch, 131 were Boone County residents, according to data from the Voluntary Action Center.

The wider campus infrastructure also includes the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen, which operates alongside New Day Columbia’s day center. The location provides guests with access to showers, laundry facilities, and storage lockers, while Loaves and Fishes serves a hot dinner every evening. Previous reporting by KOMU said that the campus was also designed to accommodate guests with pets, featuring indoor and outdoor kennels alongside a dedicated pet washing station.

City funding has played a major role in establishing these expanded services. In December 2025, the Columbia City Council approved nearly $585,000 for the Voluntary Action Center’s overnight shelter operations, according to the Columbia Missourian. The council also approved just under $432,000 for Turning Point to support daytime drop-in and overnight warming services.

Philanthropic channels have also provided financial backing. In December 2024, KOMU reported that the Voluntary Action Center secured a $745,400 Mabee Foundation grant to build the Opportunity Campus resource center.

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