YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Across the Valley, municipal buildings and local businesses are opening up to the public to serve as warming and charging stations amid the widespread power outages following Saturday’s storm.
For the second weekend in a row, Shenango Township Municipal Building is being used as a warming center. Locals are welcome to use the center until power is restored. The building is running on generator power.
“The residents that didn’t have power, didn’t have water, didn’t have access to heat –could warm up, just try to get out of the cold, get a little bit of water,” said Joseph Varga, Shenango Township emergency management coordinator.
Mercer County residents can call the nonemergency 911 line for directions to the closest center.
In Brookfield, a restaurant opened up to serve the community.
Belly Buster Sub Shop is normally closed on Sundays, but it opened up with limited sandwich ingredients for the community.
Coffee, tables and outlets were available to anyone who needed to warm up and charge their phone.
“That’s what really being part of a community is. It’s just being there for when people are down or just an unfortunate situation, being able to provide a service for people and just being there for your fellow community members,” said Matthew Chu, co-owner of Belly Buster Sub Shop.
Chu says most people he knows are without power, so he’s glad he can be there for the community.
