As an icy wind blew and the temperature struggled to reach 22 degrees, Schuylkill County officials geared up to determine how many people are homeless.

The annual count will be taken on and around Jan. 27. Volunteers from the Office of Senior Services, the Mental Health/Developmental Service, the Drug & Alcohol Commission, Children & Youth Services, Schuylkill Community Action, Service Access & Management, the veterans' office, police departments, churches and others will attempt to count the homeless.The tally, called a point-in-time count, will be used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help determine the number and amount of federal grants the county gets to help its homeless."The tragedy of someone being homeless, especially on a cold day like today, is rather apparent that we do have a need," said Commissioners' Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr.Last year, the count came to 33. Human services workers are sure there are more than that."Last year, it dropped by a few," said Keith Semerod, deputy county administrator for mental health. "A lot of people out there are not really interested in being found and counted."To kick off the count, county commissioners proclaimed Wednesday as an endorsement of the agencies' endeavor to end homelessness."We have developed this over the past few years into what really works well for our county," Semerod said.That means that unlike previous years when volunteers would search abandoned buildings and other makeshift shelters, workers also spread the word of the count through word of mouth among homeless peoples' networks.The volunteers will count homeless folks who visit places such as the Salvation Army in Tamaqua, where the homeless will come for a bite to eat between 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Jan. 29. The Salvation Army is at 105 W. Broad St.Other places include God's Chuckwagon, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at Zion Baptist Church, Mahanoy City. Other counting places are Pottsville, St. Clair, Minersville, Girardville, Orwigsburg and Shenandoah.