A few days before Christmas in 2009, a homeless woman fell asleep by an abandoned building in Wareham, and never woke up. Hypothermia took her from this world to the next.

Tragedies like that are preventable, and for the fifth winter season, Wareham’s homeless will have a warm place to sleep at night through Nights of Hospitality.

From now until March 16, four local churches will open their doors from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily, for anybody who needs shelter from the biting cold of winter. Attendees will get dinner, breakfast, bedding, and dry socks.

“We want to make sure that anyone who’s homeless knows they have a place to go,” said Pastor Dan Bernier of the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Although the program is geared toward the homeless, it is also open to people who have run out of home heating oil. The effort is being led by the Wareham Area Clergy Association, and is being organized this year by Bernier.

Pastor Dave Shaw of the Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene will host Nights of Hospitality until Saturday, Dec. 29.

Shaw estimated that 34 people took advantage of the program last year. He said that while an exact number is hard to nail down, there are approximately 60 “chronically homeless” people in Wareham.

He pointed out, however: “We don’t know those who don’t want to be found.”

Bernier said that one of the biggest misconceptions about homeless people is that they all migrated here from a less-fortunate community.

“They’re people who have been part of this community for a long time," Bernier said. "They’re people right from this community.”

On the first night, a woman who fit that description sat at a table in the church, eating and making conversation with the volunteers. She’s in her 50s now, and has lived in Wareham since she was 10 years old. She has been homeless for two years.

“No work, no money, no place to live,” said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous.

She has on make-up. Her clothes are worn, but clean. If one saw her at the store, one might not guess she was homeless.

She said that she is happy to have a warm place to go.

“My mind will be at ease tonight,” she said. But she isn’t just homeless at night. “Still, there’s cold, cold days when you leave in the morning.”

Bernier noted that oftentimes, when volunteers are spooning out food during Nights of Hospitality, they will see someone their children went to school with, or even just people who have been a presence around town.

When the program began four years ago, outreach was the biggest challenge, according to Bernier. Word that shelter was available was spread by posting fliers in areas thought to be frequented by the homeless. However, there were some trust issues to be worked out.

“From my conversations, there’s distrust out there,” said Bernier. “There’s a fear of authorities.”

In many cases, the fear is understandable. Area homeless people set up campsites, but authorities are forced to move the homeless along when they discover the camps. The woman at the shelter said she and her friends have had their tents torn down numerous times.

“They kicked us all out in October,” the woman said. “This past summer, a lot of people ruined it because they got noisy,” she explained, noting that she tries to stay away from people who are drinking alcohol, because they can get rowdy.

She added that, through it all, she and her friends maintain some sense of dignity and community. They decorate for holidays, and try to round up money to give each other a cake when their birthdays roll around.

“It’s fun, but it’s not fun," the woman said. "We’re making the best of it.”

She said she is hurt by the way some people treat her when they see her and realize she’s homeless.

“They just look at you like you’re different," she said. "I’m no bum. I’m a human being.”

The full Nights of Hospitality schedule is as follows:

Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene, 6 Rogers Avenue, (508-295-926): Dec. 23-29, Jan. 20-26, Feb. 17-23, March 10-16.

Church of the Good Shepherd, 74 High Street, (508-295-2840): Dec. 30–Jan. 5, Jan 27-Feb.2, Feb. 24-March 2.

Emmanuel Assembly of God, 15 Highland Avenue, Onset, (508-295-3111): Jan. 13-19, Feb. 10-16

St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, 84 High Street (508-295-2411): Jan. 6-12, Feb. 3-9, March 3-9