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As a winter storm came into Central Arkansas on Friday, 46-year-old Paulisha Thomason faced a choice: go to the North Little Rock Community Center or stay outside amid frigid temperatures and significant snowfall.

So Thomason decided to go to the center — one of about a dozen warming centers in Central Arkansas that opened ahead of the storm. Thomason stayed with around 50 others at the North Little Rock center, where she was given a cot, dinner and breakfast.

“It’s like being in heaven. We ain’t on no floor, we ain’t on no concrete,” she said. “It’s better than being out on the street … I’ve been here and there, standing in projects, abandoned houses and this and that.”

Thomason was one of many homeless people in Central Arkansas who were taking advantage of the warming centers, which reported an influx of patrons Friday night and into Saturday.

In Little Rock, nearly 100 sought refuge at the Dunbar Community Center, which opened as an emergency shelter at 6 p.m. Friday, city spokesman Aaron Sadler said. The city said the shelter would remain open until further notice.

“We want those who may be out on the streets (to know) there is a place you can come to be safe, warm and fed throughout this winter storm. Please join us,” Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said in a video posted to X.

Little Rock nonprofit The Van began transporting residents to Levy Church of Christ in North Little Rock as well as the Dunbar Community Center and the Compassion Center in Little Rock on Friday night.

According to The Van’s volunteer coordinator Sheri Gilbert, the organization had transported 150 to 160 people to warming centers across the two cities, including 71 who went to the church in Levy, according to Gilbert.

The three warming centers in Conway were “pretty full, but open to more people,” Conway spokesman Bobby Kelly said.

One of the Conway sites, the Don Owen Center, had approximately 14 patrons overnight with no power outages, according to Duane Evans, an employee with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

The Community Action Program for Central Arkansas Emergency Shelter in Conway opened Friday and has 40 beds. An employee with the Parks and Recreation Department said the center was almost full.

North Little Rock police officer Shayna Cobbs, the city’s unsheltered liaison, said the community center at 2700 Willow St. would convert to an overnight-only shelter when the temperature rose above 32 degrees. After that, she said the center would remain open as an overnight shelter for several days.

The shelter was serving breakfast and dinner and was staffed by officers of the North Little Rock Police Department.

Thomason said she became homeless one or two years ago when her mother, whom she had been living with, suffered a stroke. She was worried about what she’ll do when the center closes.

Sinonne Mason, 45, who stayed at the center Friday evening, said he was especially appreciative of the showers and cots that the city provided for the center.

Raleigh Covert, 35, was also grateful for the center. He said he had been working two jobs and trying to get his own apartment.

“Community comes together when you need it, you know what I mean? I’m thankful to be here because I would be on the streets right now, just cold,” he said. “Good-hearted people are so hard to find, and North Little Rock definitely comes together in a time of need.”

Information for this article was contributed by Rafael Escalera Montoto of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Lucas Dufalla is a Report for America Corps member. Financial support for this coverage came from the Community Journalism Project.