Home page:
http://www.star-telegram.com/Article is here:
http://www.star-telegram.com/629/story/184757.html>>
The Presbyterian Night Shelter's doors open on a humid summer day, and hundreds of tired, sweaty and irritable homeless people spill inside.
Sleeping mats are snatched up; spots on the concrete floor are staked out; some angry words are exchanged. Soon bodies line the hallways. Shelter regulars use their shoes as pillows -- if they don't, they might get stolen.
"Sometimes it's like being in a closet with 100 people," said Angel Moreno, 50, lying on a mat inches from men sprawled all around him.
Such is life at Tarrant County's largest homeless shelter, where the number of people seeking refuge has swelled. In the mid-1990s, having 300 people was considered a busy night. Last year, for the first time in the shelter's 23-year history, an average of more than 600 people stayed here each night. On scorching summer days, 800 people may pack the inside.
>>