GREENSBORO — Grace Community Church opened its homeless shelter for women Tuesday night with a hot meal, high hopes of success and a little help from a cycling club and a young girl.

Five other Greensboro churches and one in Pleasant Garden will join Grace this month in opening shelters to help the homeless weather the worst of winter.

Just in time, too. Forecasters expect below-freezing nighttime temperatures by the weekend.

“We thank Grace Community Church for its concerted community outreach,” said Lolita Randolph, 54, one of five women to stay at the shelter the first night. Fifteen have been assigned to the site, but not all show up the first night, said coordinator Marsha Cole. This is Grace’s second year opening a winter emergency — or WE — shelter.

At Grace, one young girl from All Saints Episcopal Church spent her birthday and Halloween money on two pairs of pajamas and sent them to the shelter with a volunteer from her church.

The Women’s Only Weekly Ride, a cycling group, provided chicken and vegetables, rolls and salad for dinner. They’ve signed up to provide one meal a month at the shelter.

The church-based sites, a response to an expected shortage of emergency shelter for the second winter in a row, will house 10 to 20 people each, organizers said. They’ll be open through April 1.

Only five of the 10 women assigned to First Baptist Church’s shelter showed up, said co-coordinator Kate Kitchen.

The church decided to turn the house on its property into a winter shelter for the homeless this year after church members volunteered at other sites last winter, the Rev. Ken Massey said.

“It was a wonderful experience,” he said. “The more we looked into how great the need was, we just felt like we had to do it.”

These shelters differ from the traditional ones at the Salvation Army’s Center of Hope and Urban Ministry’s Weaver House, which lay down extra mats in their lobbies each winter for anyone who shows up.

The church-based sites are assigned a set number of participants, who are expected to stay at the same site throughout the program.

Last year, a special United Way program — “Operation Greensboro Cares” — raised money that helped fund the shelters.

But this year, Greensboro Urban Ministry is paying the cost, said the Rev. Mike Aiken, executive director. The money pays for a program coordinator, a full-time worker who stays overnight at each shelter, and food.

Churches provide additional volunteers, food and supplies. Community donations also defray costs.

Last year, the shelters served 36 women and 132 men. Not everyone stayed the entire time. Of those that stayed, 64 percent found stable housing afterward, Aiken said.

First Baptist hopes to make an impact on the women slated to stay there, Kitchen said.

“If it happens to just one, that makes a big difference,” she said.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com