DENVER — As Denver temperatures climb into the 90s, public library locations across the city are serving as cooling centers for residents, including those experiencing homelessness.
"You can come in. It’s a refuge to shield you from the heat and the harsh reality sometimes,” Joe Minardi, who has lived in the Denver metro area his entire life.
▶️ WATCH: A formerly unhoused resident and the manager of Denver Public Library's community resource center talk with Denver7's Ethan Carlson about the relief libraries offer amid high heat
After being incarcerated, he found himself without a home.
“It’s hard to pay your bills, so I lost everything when I got out,” Minardi said. “You get out with nothing but the clothes on your back, and so, yeah, then you’re homeless.”
Now living in an Aurora sober living community, Minardi knows firsthand how dangerous the heat can be for people living outside.
“[You can] pass out really quick, lose all of your stuff, end up in the hospital from dehydration,” Minardi said. “You collapse somewhere where people don’t see you, you could die. Those things are very real out here."
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Brianne Hanson is the community resource manager at Denver Public Library. She has worked in homeless services since 2017, running motel shelter programs during COVID-19, providing employment services and more.
“Here at the library is really where I found my home,” Hanson said.
She runs the community resource center at Denver’s Central Library, where staff distribute snacks, water, hygiene items, emergency clothing and other supplies to anyone who needs them. The center also provides free naloxone — a medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose — at every library location, including at all front desks.
On hot days, the library’s role expands.
“They’re able to sit in cool areas, they’re able to check out books, they’re able to do activities,” Hanson said. “There are so many folks that don’t have air conditioning in Denver. I didn’t have air conditioning until this year, so there’s many folks from all different walks of life that come in and use this resource."
For Minardi, places like the library make a real difference.
“People get hot and frustrated super quick, so it cuts down on agitation and puts people in a better mood," Minardi said. "So it’s better for the world.”
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