AUGUSTA, Maine — Temperatures in Augusta reached the mid-90s Thursday, leading to the city opening a daytime cooling center at the Civic Center.
It was only ensured for one day, as the forecast shows temps will lower into the weekend. But for those without shelter, the heat was hard to handle.
"Dude, it sucks," Brandon Long, who is unhoused, said.
Long said he is originally from Florida and moved to Maine, where his partner is from. The two were laying on an unzipped sleeping bag under the shade of a gazebo at Mill Park in Augusta.
"It's exhausting," Long said. "I've been shot, stabbed, kicked in the face, and I'm still here. I've been homeless since I was 12."
Long is one of many unhoused people living in central Maine. Advocates who keep contact with unhoused people said resources there are few compared to what they heard about larger cities like Portland.
"There is a need, and there is a need here in this area," Pastor Jeff Morgan with Central Church in Augusta said.
Morgan along with several others brought Gatorade and energy bars to Mill Park.
"When it comes to the community we try to have a finger on the pulse of things that are going on," Morgan said.
At one point at Mill Park, Morgan went to Long to speak with him and check in on him. Long wasn't the only unhoused person there, along with other groups of outreach volunteers such as Marshall Mercer and Katie Morin of Hope Brokers.
"There is a lack of resources here, but there are great resources, the people," Mercer said.
Mercer said he started Hope Brokers in the spring after the city closed its warming shelter for the season. He said dozens of people were left without anywhere to stay overnight.
Mercer and Morin are also formerly unhoused. Morin said she had two kids and struggled unhoused while caring for them.
"There was a massive lack of genuine support and understanding from resources claiming they support families in need," Morin said.
Mercer said the lack of resources in Augusta is noticeable, but seeing that larger cities like Portland are also facing full shelters and not enough resources to care for the hundreds of unhoused people there, more people in central Maine need to step up.
"I just really feel like if we all come together, and we communicate more, we could figure out what solutions come up with instead of pushing people from warming center to cooling center, bringing people here and there. We are herding people," Mercer said. "And when you herd people, you treat them like animals."
Employees at the Augusta Civic Center said that as the summer progresses it will be used by the city as a cooling center. The city will announce the days it is open on its Facebook page.