Polk County Opens Cold Weather Shelters, Deputies Offer Rides and Support to Homeless

Photo provided to iSkyNews by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office

By Ciara Perez, Senior Multimedia Correspondent

iSkyNews.com (ISN) – Published January 31st, 2026

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Polk County Opens Cold Weather Shelters, Deputies Offer Rides and Support to Homeless

BARTOW, Fla. — As colder temperatures move into Central Florida, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office has opened a cold weather shelter and is expanding efforts to protect homeless individuals from dangerous overnight conditions.

At the direction of Grady Judd, deputies have spent the past several weeks checking known homeless camps throughout Polk County, distributing quilts, blankets, and coats. Those efforts are now being expanded to include transportation to a county-operated cold weather shelter.

Deputies will continue welfare checks and will actively encourage individuals experiencing homelessness to come to the shelter, offering rides directly from the field. Anyone accepting transportation will first be taken to the sheriff’s office facility at 2390 Bob Phillips Road to check in, then transported across the street to the shelter.

The shelter, located at the corner of Clower Road and Bob Phillips Road in Bartow, opens at 6:00 p.m. tonight and will remain open through Monday. Hot meals will be provided each evening. For those who choose not to go to the shelter, deputies will continue handing out blankets and coats to help them stay warm.

In addition to the sheriff’s office shelter, the Bartow Community Service Center announced it is also opening a cold weather shelter starting tonight. Working in partnership with Turning Point Worship Center, the shelter will operate nightly through Monday.

The Bartow Community Service Center shelter will open each evening at 6:00 p.m. and is located at 1400 East Georgia Street in Bartow. Officials say the goal is to ensure no one in the community is forced to sleep outdoors during the cold snap.

iSkyNews.com will continue to monitor the cold weather and provide updates. Live weather conditions and forecasts are available anytime at www.iSkyNews.com/weather.

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