ROSWELL, N.M. — Nearly a month ago, Enrique Moreno and the group ‘With Many Hands” were looking for a building to use as a warming shelter in Roswell.

Days later, they found one.

“They’re selling this building that had been up for the market for about six months that’s just sitting here, and that he thinks it would work out for us,” said Enrique Moreno, founder and director of Roswell Community Disaster Relief.

Adrian Gonzales and his wife, Crystal Gonzales, offered the building as a warming shelter at no cost.

“We told them we were looking for someplace up until March, whenever things start getting better with the weather,” said Moreno. “They said as long as the building didn’t sell, they can accommodate us here.”

They named it the Gonzales Hope Warming Center in honor of the couple.

Moreno says they had a lot to do before they opened their doors for the first time earlier this week.

“They said, maybe we can open up as a trial. So we can be better prepared, you know, in case an event of a bigger storm, we’re going to anticipate more people.”

Moreno says it’s been a community-wide effort.

“Everything from toilet paper to cleaning supplies, toys for kids, food,  some stuff we did have to purchase but the cost of operating here hasn’t been too significant,” he said.

The goal is to make this a permanent location so they can turn it into a community resource center. Moreno says, for now, they’re looking at figuring out what they are going to do in the long term.

For more information on where you can donate, call 575-208-4055.