Winter help, before the wind chill becomes the story

The line between stuck and emergency

A dead battery in a lit lot is a neighbor ask. Someone without shelter in a blizzard, a person who cannot feel their hands, a car in a ditch on I-94, a smell of exhaust in a closed garage — that is 911. Do not workshop it in an app.

If you need a bed tonight, skip Help Me. Dial 211 or open the winter-shelter resource page and use official programs. We do not operate a shelter.

Asks that actually fit January

Jump starts in public lots. A walk from the library to the ramp after a night class. Directions when the skyway logic fails a visitor. A pair of hands with a stubborn trunk. None of that needs a feed. All of it needs a public meeting place.

• Name the public place: West Acres, Memorial Union, a grocery entrance, a downtown ramp lobby.
• Keep exact location off until a helper accepts and you consent.
• Wear the coat you mock in October. Helpers are neighbors, not a ride service.
• If the wait stretches and the cold is winning, go inside. Try again from a vestibule.

Two states, one winter

Fargo and West Fargo sit in Cass County, North Dakota. Moorhead and Dilworth sit in Clay County, Minnesota. 911 works on both banks. Food, housing, and county benefits do not copy-paste. Bookmark the Cass and Clay resource pages now, not during a wind advisory.

Official winter tools that are not this app

MATBUS for when the car is a sculpture. Campus safety escorts on NDSU, MSUM, and Concordia. 211 / FirstLink for heat, shelter, and food. Fargo, Moorhead, and West Fargo police non-emergency through the Red River Regional Dispatch Center when you need an officer and nobody is dying.