The story: When nighttime temperatures drop below 15 degrees, Spokane's House of Charity warming center give shelter to the homeless.

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Produced by Colin Mulvany

For most of us, the cold is an inconvenience.

We have sweaters and blankets. We have hot food without having to search.

Even our pets come inside.

John Haines had all that. Then, 11 Januaries ago, he found his daughter’s body hanging at the end of a rope, and “I just died.”

Now Haines survives winter as best he can, sometimes by crawling into a cardboard box.

The cold “numbs you up until you’re warm and then you just think maybe, maybe you’re not going to wake up,” says Haines, 57.

This week’s cold could be a killer for people like Haines. Too cold for a box.

The temperature dropped to zero Monday night, then minus-1 Tuesday night. It was expected to hit 5 degrees tonight, according to the National Weather Service. One more bitter night is expected before temperatures begin to moderate.

Haines found shelter this week at an emergency warming center at House of Charity, 32 W. Pacific.

There are three such centers in Spokane, open whenever the temperature is expected to drop below 15 degrees and homeless shelters are full. Women can go to Hope House, 111 W. Third. Families and couples go to the Salvation Army, 204 E. Indiana.

They are spartan, but they are warm. And sometimes that’s all a body needs.