The City of Aurora is opening its overnight warming shelter on Thursday night to protect people from the dangerous cold, but the center's staff said they're up against more than just the harsh conditions outside. Keeping staff and clients healthy can be a challenge, too.

They're getting a big donation to help them through.

The warming center on River Street is always accepting donations.

"We have everything from hygiene projects to medical things to clothes," said Pastor Patrick Fish, who runs the warming center.

They're set to receive something so big they don't have enough space for it – $360,000 of personal protective equipment, right as flu and respiratory season intensifies

"We have quarantined folks, because sick people deserve to have shelter just as much as anybody else," Fish said.

They'll be stocked with masks and hand sanitizer and a restock of disposable gloves used for shared meals.

"This is probably where it'll get its use out of the gate, simply because we do serve a lot of food here. We get through a lot of gloves," Aurora Mayor John Laesh said.

"It's just a burden off our shoulders for sure," volunteer Matt Fogarty said.

The donations are gift from Teinnovations, a food and medical packaging supply company in Aurora.

"There's so much negativity in the world. It is great to have a feel-good story to do something positive together," founder Daniel Tein said.

Teinnovations collected and transported more than a dozen pallets of product to the city's storage – pieces of PPE that will bring peace of mind for the foreseeable future.

"This is the hard part; after Thanksgiving, after Christmas, people forget that it's still cold; and we plan on it still being cold in January and February. So the need isn't going to stop, so we still need help constantly," Fish said.

Aurora officials have made arraignments to open the warming shelter for 100 days this winter, though they could add more days if they need to. And right now, they expect they may need to.