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Frigid temperatures that settled over the region in late November, along with several snowstorms arriving earlier than usual, have kept beds at county emergency homeless shelters full.

Mary Anderson, a Montgomery County spokeswoman, said the county has about 300 beds at its nine emergency shelters, which provide overnight sleeping facilities and other services to homeless families and individuals, and all are in use right now.

The county has had to open additional facilities to act as overflow shelters to accommodate the large number of people seeking to get out of the cold, she said. That has included putting up 50 families in motels because the three shelters that serve families are at capacity.

Despite the overload, those in need will be helped, Anderson said.

"But if someone is looking for a bed, we're going to find them one," she said. "We're not going to leave a person out on the street if they're seeking shelter."

Kelley O'Dell, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, said the Homebuilders Care Assessment Center in Rockville, which provides emergency shelter to men only, can typically accommodate 135 men during the winter months, but below-normal temperatures last month brought in an average of 188 men each night.

She said that number has steadily increased and that the shelter served more than 225 men three nights last week. The additional men were bused to two overflow shelters, which are set up in county-owned facilities.

Sharan London, executive director of the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, said it is not uncommon for the shelter to be crowded during the winter, but she thinks that colder temperatures coming earlier this winter have had a hand in bringing in more people sooner than expected.

"It's just earlier this year," she said. "We usually don't see those high numbers until February. I think it could be a combination of the cold and the poor economy."

O'Dell said the shelter has assisted more than 300 different men since mid-December.

London said she thinks that the shelter will continue to keep busy.

"I absolutely think the numbers will go up, unfortunately," she said.

London said that sleeping out in the cold puts people at risk of suffering and even dying from hypothermia.

Anderson said there was one hypothermia death in the county last year, but that there have not been any this winter.

She said the county put its winter hypothermia plan, which allows for shelters to be open during the day on weekends to provide daytime protection from the elements, into effect several times since the end of November.

Becky Wagner, executive director of Interfaith Works, which operates the Wilkins Avenue Women's Shelters in Rockville and the Community Vision program at Progress Place in Silver Spring, also said this winter has been busy.

"We are just completely and fully at capacity at every shelter and every program that we provide," she said.

She said the Wilkins Avenue facility, which acts as an emergency shelter for women, has 65 beds and all are full. Progress Place, which hosts Community Vision's social and mental health services in the daytime and the Shepherd's Table soup kitchen in the evening, has been converted into an overnight overflow shelter for 70 men and women.

"We started the overflow shelter in November because it was just getting so cold," Wagner said.

She said sometimes for one reason or another people would rather sleep on the streets than come to a homeless shelter, but that has not been the case the last several weeks.

"This frigid winter without a break has just put people between a rock and a hard place and they've had to come in," Wagner said.

She said Interfaith Works has not had to turn away any women at Wilkins Avenue, but has had to reject men coming to Progress Place at night.

Wagner noted that the economy has played a large role in bringing more women to Wilkins Avenue and that Interfaith Works began seeing an influx in the spring and summer with 50 percent of women reporting that they had experienced job loss.

"So this early cold has just exacerbated what we knew would be a difficult winter for giving shelter," she said.

The Homebuilders Care Assessment Center is seeking the following items: new or clean, gently used men's coats in large, extra large or double extra large sizes; hats and gloves; new wool socks; new thermal underwear; hand and foot warmers to be inserted into gloves and socks; and meals, including hot dinners that may be served by groups. To make a donation, call Teri Brenits at 301-917-6660 or send an e-mail to Teri@mcch.net.

For general information on how to help homeless men, women and children, call the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless at 301-217-0314 or visit www.mcch.net.

Interfaith Works is seeking new or clean, gently used clothing, coats and new hats and gloves, socks and regular and thermal underwear at the following locations for men, women and children. For more information, visit www.iworksmc.org.

To drop off clothing, visit:

-Interfaith Clothing Center, 751 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, 301-424-3796.

-Hans Rosenfeld Upcounty Interfaith Clothing Center, 620 E. Diamond Ave., Gaithersburg, 301-977-1267.

-Shepherd's Table Clothing Closet, 8210 Colonial Lane, Silver Spring, 301-585-6463, Ext. 5. Drop-off box is located in the parking lot.