Vince Lepre celebrated his 17th birthday enlisting into the military during the Vietnam war.

Roughly half a century later, he celebrated his 68th birthday as a homeless man keeping warm at Denver Coliseum, which the city temporarily turned into an emergency shelter at the onset of Colorado’s cold weather.

The shelter will close on Saturday.

Living conditions inside the Denver Coliseum are much better than other overnight shelters, according to Lepre.

“Other shelters, they don’t give a crap if you die,” the former combat medic said, adding the coliseum is a “good” and “comfortable” place to be as he celebrated his birthday.

The Denver Department of Housing Stability, which opened the city’s historic coliseum last Friday as a 24/7 shelter, provides residents there with sleeping mats, bathrooms, and three meals a day. The shelter also allows for pets.

The coliseum, which also once served as a shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic, is being tested in a pilot program that aims to evaluate the cost, logistics and outcomes of providing a 24/7 shelter during cold weather, said HOST’s Director of Communications Sabrina Allie.

So far, that data remains to be seen, according to Allie.

The coliseum is seeing an average of 200 homeless people a night, Allie said.

HOST asks for the name, date of birth, and where people stayed the night before. The homeless people are then assigned a number in the Homeless Management Information System.

The city does not inquire about people’s immigration status, Allie said.

The department said its biggest challenge is working around scheduled events at the coliseum. The department announced the pilot program after Mayor Mike Johnston vetoed a proposal from the City Council that would have banned sweeping encampments when temperatures dip below 32 degrees.

A divided Denver City Council later tried and failed to override the mayor’s veto but cited the need for more emergency shelters, “which has led to this program,” Allie said.

John Pearsall, a Operation Desert Storm veteran who spent over four days living at the Coliseum, said he lost most of his toes due to frostbite while living on Denver’s streets.

“It could be anybody’s mother, anybody’s father, anybody’s kid out here,” said Pearsall.

Living on the streets, he added, “shouldn’t exclude a person from trying to live like anyone else or being given a fair chance to try to live somewhere where they feel comfortable.”

Pearsall, too, found comfort at the coliseum, he said, describing it as a better situation than other city housing options.

The biggest difference with the emergency shelter, Allie said, is that it’s 24/7.

“A lot of these folks aren’t comfortable in our regular congregate shelters, or they’ve been exited from those programs,” Allie said.

A large number of homeless people taking shelter at the coliseum are veterans, according to Pearsall.

Michael Tissette, another veteran living at the coliseum, is suffering from a heart disease and said he has less than a month to live.

“I am on a mission from God to help the homeless here,” Tissette said. “I just need some place to sleep, some place really warm.”

Tissette wishes to travel to Florida, possibly with Pearsall, after their time at the coliseum, he said.

“I don’t want to leave,” Pearsall said. “I know eventually that I am going to have to leave, and then be back out there in the cold again.”