PHOENIX — A local nonprofit says it has rescued 250 unhoused people from the sizzling Valley streets since May.

Phoenix Rescue Mission launched its annual Code:Red Heat Relief Campaign on May 1, aiming to protect vulnerable individuals from extreme summer temperatures. It runs through Aug. 31.

The organization defines a “rescue” as any instance where it helps someone transition off the streets, whether by securing shelter, temporary or permanent housing or enrolling them in a recovery program.

Sergio Armendariz, the nonprofit’s street outreach coordinator, often spends his days distributing water, care packages and hope to those experiencing homelessness in the Valley.

“Our main focus is: ‘How can we get you off the streets?’” Armendariz told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Thursday. “We want to get services to as many homeless individuals as possible.”

How does heat relief campaign help unhoused people in metro Phoenix?

Armendariz knows the struggle firsthand.

“When I think about how life was before the Rescue Mission, I just remember I was pretty miserable,” he said. “I had been living on the streets for over five years. Living outdoors in the cold, the heat — all the elements — was pretty rough on me.”

Seven years ago, he encountered Phoenix Rescue Mission while living on the streets. Getting help from the nonprofit changed his life.

Today, he oversees the nonprofit’s Mesa outreach contract and collaborates with providers like Paz de Cristo and St. Vincent de Paul.

Armendariz said the getting people off the streets can save their lives because of all the hazards for the unhoused, from the deadly heat to violence and discrimination.

“I’ve seen people get their their faces kicked in in while they’re sleeping,” he said. “When I was homeless, I would hear all these stories, and so there was a lot of fear and anxiety.”

In June alone, the Code:Red Heat Relief Campaign distributed:

  • 121,015 water bottles.
  • 2,276 hope totes.
  • 495 hygiene packages.

“In the last two months — in the summer months — we’ve engaged with just over 1,700 new people throughout the Valley,” Armendariz said. “Our team has grown, so now we have more opportunity to go out pass out that water and and try to make a difference in people’s lives.”

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