It’s hard to imagine Bakersfield as a cold place or even a town with seasons, but to many who walk the streets and sleep in alleyways, winter is a cutting reality.

As the temperature drops into the 40s, Bakersfield residents head for home as Kern County frosts over.

For Debbie Rodriguez, home only exists in memories.

“I’ve been homeless for seven years,” said Rodriguez. “It doesn’t seem like that much time has passed, but it has.”

Rodriguez’s face is a mustard orange of tan, her skin bearing the creases of seasons spent in the elements.

She pushes her cart up the steep incline of Columbus Street near Bakersfield College.

Despite a bad knee, she pushes on towards a destination that changes by the day.

Rodriguez looks up to the sky, noticing the rain clouds. When she can’t take sanctuary under a roof, she uses an old shower curtain to keep dry.

She points to a drop into a dirt lot off the side of Columbus Street, just bordering the bluffs that overlook the city.

“We used to have a spot… but over the summer, they started stealing our stuff and raiding our camps… they (looters) made it hard on us.”

Nowadays, she stays on the move, walking the streets of Bakersfield on the search for food and shelter.

According to the Kern County Homeless Collaborative, 1,067 people were reported homeless with the majority residing in Bakersfield.

A quick walk through downtown Bakersfield reaffirms those numbers.

Huddled in the front of a storefront on H Street, Terry Joe Barham and Dale Robertson fashions a cardboard shelter to get them through the night.

Barham lies down while Robertson keeps the first watch as darkness falls. Barham has only been homeless for a year, but the 62-year-old Bakersfield native keeps positive. Barham’s face holds a smile, though it’s apparent that he is cold under his cardboard encampment.

His days are spent foraging for food with Robertson.

At nights, he does his best to keep dry. He stresses the importance of keeping things sanitary. “If you’re not clean, you’re gonna get sick or get in the hospital,” said Barham.

Robertson and Barham repeatedly mentioned their need for clean underwear, fresh socks and sleeping bags to make it through the street nights.

In an interview with Erin Mitzell, administrative assistant at the Bakersfield Homeless Shelter, she echoed the need for donations in the winter season.

The Bakersfield Homeless Shelter helps over 250 people a day with breakfast and dinner meals as well as 174 beds that hold a standing wait list throughout the winter.

Because of the homeless shelter’s high demand for service, they are always in need of supplies.

Mitzell said that the organization is happy for donations of any kind, but stressed the need for socks, jackets, sweats and food.

Volunteering is another way to make a positive impact this season.

“We get a lot of calls during the holidays, but we actually use volunteers 365 days a year, in fact they’re our biggest workforce,” Mitzell said.