MACON — Two homeless men froze to death on Christmas Day, a Georgia coroner said.
Larry Howard, 61, and Manuel Foster, 63, died of hypothermia in Macon — Howard in an abandoned apartment and Foster under an Interstate 75 overpass, Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones told news outlets.
It’s been five or six years since the last such death, he told WGXA-TV.
Coronavirus pandemic restrictions have forced the Salvation Army to turn people away this winter, men’s shelter director Charles Pope told WMAZ-TV. He said the nonprofit normally can provide beds for about 120 people. They are split into sections for men, families and veterans.
“I wake up in the morning and check my phone every morning to see what the weather is because I fear how our people are responding in the cold,” said Sister Theresa Sullivan, director of DePaul USA’s Daybreak Center, a place in Macon where homeless people can go during the day. “We must continue. We must continue to figure out how we can address these issues even in the midst of obstacles.”
She said the organization is setting up an outdoor space with heaters, and it should open in the next month.
Sullivan and Pope told WMAZ they are working with county leaders to do more to help people during the winter.