Bridges Outreach connects people with warming centers, food in dangerous temperatures

Wednesday, January 28, 2026
NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- One of the big concerns during extreme cold weather is making sure people living outside have a warm place to stay.

Outside of Newark Penn Station, if you look hard enough, people are there sleeping and vulnerable in the dangerous cold.

Inside the waiting area in the station, it's not full of customers waiting for a train. It's full of people in desperate need.

"Nowhere to go and trying to eat," Sarah said.

The Bridges Outreach team is providing shuttle buses to warming centers and shelters for those who don't have anywhere to go.



The team provides more than a warm place to sleep. Every person gets a bag full of food, snacks, water and hand warmers and socks.

Since the frigid cold took a chokehold over the region, 100 people a night have come off these streets.

(sot Richard Uniacke, President of Bridges Outreach)

"We wanna start wherever we need to. So the gentleman you were just talking to needs birth certificate, a social security card, and probably a non-driver ID so that he can get income," Richard Uniacke, President of Bridges Outreach, said.

It isn't always easy of course, convincing folks to come inside.



James Nuchereno tries every night to convince friends to come with him.

But he says mental health issues, drug addiction and safety concerns often make some reluctant.

As for Sarah, who's been on the streets for more than 20 years, she says what these outreach teams are offering is huge.

"My partner kicked me back out in the streets and out back here struggling again. I'm taking it day by day, but it'll get better," she said.


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