Safe place to sleep: Gallup shelter opens its doors as cold turns deadly
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
Lorena Halwood, the executive director, stands inside a donation and clothing room at Amá Dóó Áłchíní Bíghan Inc. in Chinle Jan. 6, 2026.
By Donovan Quintero
Special to the Times
GALLUP – Alex, who gave only his first name, from Tó Hajiileehé, and three other elderly men sat at a table, laughing gingerly and speaking in low voices as they played a game of cards.
They had taken off their shoes, jackets and the layers they usually wear while enduring Gallup’s cold winter nights on the streets.
On this particular Saturday night, they could rest assured they would sleep in a warm place, even as the temperature dipped into the single digits.
That warmth came from a converted conference-room shelter inside the Howard Johnson on Gallup’s west side, a space that on most days would host meetings but in winter has been remade into a nightly refuge for people who otherwise might bed down under bridges, behind buildings or in the open desert air.
In the ballroom, cots and mats stretched across patterned carpet, blankets were laid out in rows, and handwritten signs helped turn a crowded room into a system where people could find their space, exhale and finally sleep.
To read the full article, please see the Jan. 15, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow