TRAVERSE CITY -- Don Mallory sat at a small table in the lower level of West Bay Covenant Church, and glued a pink heart onto a sheet of purple paper.
He wanted to surprise his fiancee, Maria Garcia, with the Valentine's Day card, but she came downstairs before he finished it.
Mallory shrugged. "I'll have to make it extra special then," he said.
On a winter night like this one, when a steady snowfall turned the streets into slush and temperatures hovered below freezing, staying in that church meant he wouldn't have to be out in the cold.
West Bay Covenant is one of at least 20 local churches to participate in Safe Harbor, a network that provides shelter to area homeless, including Mallory and Garcia, during the coldest part of the year.
About 12 churches provide lodging each week as part of a rotating schedule that lasts from late October to early April, depending on the weather, said Jeff Lewis, a volunteer coordinator for Safe Harbor. Churches that don't offer shelter provide volunteers.
"We have one common goal: To keep them warm and safe through the winter," Lewis said. "It's not very nice out there this time of year."
At least 20 stayed at West Bay Covenant on Thursday night. People can stay from 6 p.m., when dinner is served, through breakfast at 8 a.m. the following morning.
The number of people who utilize the program varies between 30 and 40, he said, adding that participation in general is higher than last year, a fact several volunteers attribute more to the economy than recent single-digit temperatures.
And Safe Harbor isn't the only local shelter to report increased demand.
Nearly 80 people a night stayed at the Goodwill Inn as of this week, said Ruth Blick, Goodwill's marketing director. The Garfield Township shelter consistently has housed between 75 and 85 people a night since it opened in December 2006.
The shelter can provide beds for single men and women, as well as entire families.
That demographic has been the fastest-growing, Blick said, with 77 families seeking assistance in the inn's first year.
"We try not to turn people away," she said. "If we can't make room at the moment, all the family rooms are full and a family needs shelter, we will work with them."
People from Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie and Antrim counties have utilized Safe Harbor since it began in 2003, said Jim Vanderley, a staff coordinator with the program.
And the program keeps growing, especially through word-of-mouth.
"We don't ask questions," Vanderley said. "We take everybody equally."
Mallory and Garcia certainly are glad.
Life wasn't always this way. Just a few months ago, they were living in Grawn and Mallory was working temporary construction jobs.
But his line of work is mostly seasonal, so the jobs dried up when the snow fell. His driver's license was suspended after he couldn't pay a speeding ticket.
"I got two more trying to drive to work to pay the first one," he said. "It's not a very forgiving system."
So in early January, the couple of four years sought assistance from Safe Harbor. Now, Mallory is studying to earn his GED and Garcia, who a while back was diagnosed with seizures, learned this week she will receive state disability payments until she can get back to work.
Both said they are relieved to have a warm place to sleep every night.
"We don't want people out there in the cold," Garcia said. "It helps get through the tough times."
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