Two more cooling centers to open Monday night, in Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs

Two more overnight cooling centers will be available for those looking to escape the extreme summer heat starting Monday night: one in Cathedral City and one in Desert Hot Springs.

“Many times it gets hot during the summer, and we’ve had a few deaths over the years, so it’s very critical that we have these cooling centers,” said Cathedral City Mayor Mark Carnevale.

The Cathedral City cooling center will be at Community Presbyterian Church on Chuperosa Lane, and the Desert Hot Springs location will be at Word of Life Fellowship Center on Estrella.

The centers will be offering cool water, snacks and television. Mayor Carnevale stressed that anyone who needs a place to cool down is welcome: “It will be well supervised, and it’s welcome for the homeless and for the less fortunate…if they’re having trouble paying electricity bills or if they have a family and need to take a family there and spend the night, they’re welcome to do that as well.”

The Coachella Valley Rescue Mission will also have an out outreach service on site in Cathedral City called “Housing First” offering additional resources. “If there are some individuals that are seeking housing, they’ll be able to be placed in Coachella Valley Rescue Mission and possibly onto a permanent facility from that point on,” he said.

These two centers are in addition to the cooling center in Palm Springs that opened its doors last Friday at the Demuth Community Center. The Palm Springs location at Demuth Community Center is only temporary, however. It’s expected to move to the old Palm Springs boxing club building on El Cielo Rd., which is currently under renovation. But that work could be completed in just a matter of days.

All three centers are the result of a collaborative effort between County Supervisor Manual Perez, Desert Health Care, the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission and the Coachella Valley Association of Governments.

“A lot of these individuals don’t have TVs, they don’t have running water, they don’t have the luxuries that we have — we just take this all for granted,” said Carnevale.

As we enter the hottest months of the year, these centers can be the difference between life and death in the desert. “So when it’s 115 or 110 in the daytime, it’s still 110 at night…and they’re still on hot grounds sleeping on dirt and concrete, it’s just the humane thing to do to offer them something,” he added.

All three cooling centers will be open from 7pm until 7am through the end of September. Here are the complete addresses:

Desert Hot Springs: Word of Life Fellowship Center, 66-290 Estrella, Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240 Cathedral City: Community Presbyterian Church, 38-088 Chuperosa Lane, Cathedral City, CA 92234 Palm Springs: Demuth Community Center, 3601 E Mesquite Ave, Palm Springs, CA 92264

For a complete list of all cooling centers in Riverside County, click here.