The first step toward something more stable
When temperatures drop below freezing and windchills reach dangerous lows, the difference between shelter and exposure can be the difference between life and death. Peter and Paul Community Services has been answering that call in St. Louis since 1981, and with support from Serving Our Communities Foundation, the Sidney Street Shelter delivered low-barrier, dignified emergency shelter across 40 days and nights of extreme weather during the 2025-2026 winter season. In that stretch, the shelter recorded 2,517 total stays and served 7,551 meals, averaging 62 people per night. On the coldest night of the season, with windchills reaching negative 10 degrees, 117 individuals found safety at Sidney. For each of them, that night mattered. For some, it may have been the first step toward something more stable.
Impact Highlights
Sidney Street Shelter Activated
With support from Serving Our Communities Foundation, Sidney Street Shelter operated across 40 days and nights of extreme weather, recording 2,517 total shelter stays and serving 7,551 meals, with an average of 62 people sheltered per night.
Sheltering During Extreme Cold
During a windchill event reaching negative 10 degrees, Sidney Street Shelter surpassed standard capacity to shelter 117 individuals in a single night, demonstrating the program’s flexibility and commitment to low-barrier access.
In the winter of 1981, a man froze to death near Soulard in St. Louis. The community responded by founding what would become Peter and Paul Community Services, an organization built on the conviction that no one should die in the cold while neighbors have the means to help. More than four decades later, that founding purpose still drives every decision PPCS makes when winter arrives.
Peter and Paul Community Services operates a continuum of housing and shelter programs for people experiencing homelessness in St. Louis, with a particular focus on homeless single adult men, a population that is significantly underserved among those living unhoused. Its programs include a year-round 100-bed emergency shelter, transitional and permanent supportive housing, case management, occupational therapy, and wraparound services designed to move people from crisis to stability over time.
The Sidney Street Shelter, supported in part by Serving Our Communities Foundation, is a critical piece of that continuum. Operating as a low-barrier winter resource during extreme weather events, Sidney Street provides immediate refuge for individuals and couples who might otherwise have nowhere to go. The shelter operates with a clear and consistent commitment: everyone who comes through the door is welcomed with dignity and calm.
During the 2025-2026 winter season, that commitment was tested repeatedly. Across 40 days and nights of activation triggered by extreme weather, the shelter recorded 2,517 total stays and served 7,551 meals. On a single night in January, when windchills dropped to negative 10 degrees, 117 individuals sought safety at Sidney, well beyond standard capacity. The shelter absorbed the surge. The doors stayed open.
That flexibility reflects something essential about how PPCS approaches emergency shelter. The work is not only about beds and meals, though those matter enormously. It is about being the kind of place that people trust to show up, to have room, and to treat them with the care they deserve regardless of circumstance. A neighbor who witnessed that care firsthand described the shelter staff as “so calm and welcoming,” and said he was moved by “the sheer kindness” he saw there.
Across the full 2025-2026 winter season, PPCS operated up to seven overflow shelter locations citywide, providing more than 13,000 nights of safe shelter and 40,000 meals to more than 1,000 individuals. In December 2025, in the midst of that activation, PPCS earned three-year CARF accreditation across all four of its housing programs, with its Jugan Shelter becoming the first emergency shelter in Missouri and the surrounding region to receive that recognition.
Serving Our Communities Foundation’s support for Sidney Street Shelter is an investment in the infrastructure of human dignity in St. Louis, in the systems that make it possible for a city to say, with confidence, that no one will be left outside in the cold.
To support Peter and Paul Community Services directly, visit ppcsinc.org.
“The support we receive from Serving Our Communities Foundation allows us to ensure people in our community have a safe, warm place to stay on the coldest nights. Their partnership means that during conditions no one should have to endure outside, our neighbors have somewhere to go that treats them with dignity and respect.”
Anthony D’Agostino
Chief Executive Officer, Peter and Paul Community Services
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