 "Photo: Mary Kang/The Daily Texan")
Heat indexes are expected to continue to soar above 100 degrees for most of the week, and while most students can simply run inside for a cool drink of water, many of Austin’s homeless aren’t so lucky.
Hundreds of Austin’s local homeless will spend the day under the blistering sun, and few have access to fresh cool water. Non-profits, local business owners and the city of Austin are attempting to alleviate this problem.
Mobile Loaves and Fishes, with support from the city, distributed free bottles of water to Austin’s homeless in the midst of scorching temperatures on Thursday.
“It’s just plain hot,” said Alan Graham, the group’s president. “It’s so easy to get cooked. You don’t even realize how much [water] you are losing when your core temperature goes up. People need water out here.”
Armed with several trucks and nearly 70 to 80 cases of water, many of which were provided by the city, the group began distributing bottled water to the less fortunate.
The organization stresses the critical need to properly hydrate in order to prevent dangerous cases of dehydration and heat stroke, especially in the oppressive summer heat.
Lozina Stephens-Bell, a local restaurant owner and advocate for the homeless, realized there was a lack of water fountains and water coolers, particularly in places where many homeless people gather. She began her own initiative to distribute free ice water in key areas where homeless congregate.
“We saw all these people holding empty water cups, it was really sad; These were places that there should be water,” Stephens-Bell said. “It was a disaster for the homeless. Water must be available. We can’t live without it.”
Stephens-Bell fed the homeless from the back of her restaurant for years. She suggested that restaurants be required to provide a water cooler outside their business and asked that a portable toilet company donate some portable toilets to places throughout Austin that are in need.
“We aren’t asking for a lot, just the main necessities, at least give them a water fountain and a bathroom,” Stephen-Bell said. “Everyone needs water, but unlike everybody else, the homeless can’t walk into a business and pay one dollar for a bottle of water. Not when they’re broke, and they are the people who are outside in the heat all day.”
Dean Graber, an Austin resident who worked with Stephens-Bell on Hurricane Katrina relief, said he believes the city could do more to make free water accessible to the homeless.
“When private citizens are having to take it upon themselves to serve water to homeless people in 100-degree heat, right across the street from the city’s homeless shelter which doesn’t have water fountains outside, this is an emergency that the city is obliged to fix,” Graber said.
The homeless community around UT is also feeling the heat. Many are forced to find shade during the day and ask passersby for water in order to survive.
“The other day I offered my water bottle to a homeless man on the Drag; he grabbed it up immediately and chugged it,” said Justin Casino UT computer sciences senior. “When you think about it, where can you get free water on the Drag if you’re obviously not a customer?”
Graham said there are many things people can do to help, including making a donation for water at www.mlfnow.org/water or volunteering their time and cars.
“We’d love to get some UT students out here,” Graham said. “We need trucks and SUVs to deliver food and water to those in need.”
