Faith leaders, service providers and city officials have been scrambling this week to create day and overnight warming shelters during the dangerously cold weather that is settling over the Ozarks Thursday and into the holiday weekend.
One major solution was announced Wednesday evening: The Expo Center in downtown Springfield will be open to the public Thursday, Friday and Saturday as a daytime warming center.
The Expo Center is located at 635 E. St. Louis St., and has more than 120,000 square feet.
It will be open noon to 7 p.m. on Thursday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
This warming center is for anyone needing a warm place to be — not just the unsheltered community.
Lunch and dinner will be served. There will be a separate space for families, as well as movies and games.
In a Facebook live announcement Wednesday evening, Connecting Grounds Pastor Christie Love thanked city leaders for allowing this large space to open to the public during the dangerous winter weather.
“We know we’ve got probably close to 1,000 individuals in this community that don’t have access to friends, family, a hotel room,” she said. “They are in their cars. They may be out on the streets.
“We’re also really cognizant that as a city that runs with a constant poverty rate that is twice our state’s average, we’ve got some people that are living without power regularly, without heat regularly,” Love continued. “These temperatures may make it too cold to stay in some of those places as well.”
The Expo Center is owned by the City of Springfield and managed by Atrium.
Love thanked city leaders who helped make this possible, as well as Larry Woods, director of Springfield Greene County Office of Emergency Management; Michelle Garand, vice president of Affordable Housing & Homeless Prevention with Community Partnership of the Ozarks; and Jason Gage, city manager.
Need for volunteers critical
With the opening of this large warming center, Love said the need for volunteers to staff it is critical — along with all the other overnight cold weather shelter sites that are opening the next three nights.
Volunteer shifts at the Expo Center will be 7 a.m. to noon, noon till 4 p.m, and 4 to 7 p.m.
“We are going to need at least six people because this is a big space on each of those shifts,” she said.
Since announcing that additional churches are opening up overnight cold weather shelters Thursday through Sunday, Love said more than 75 people have signed up to volunteer in some capacity.
“Most of these are first time volunteers so I am completely blown away by the response of our community,” she said. “I’m so very proud of us as a city when it comes to people stepping up.”
That said, it’s going to take even more volunteers to staff the shelters including the Expo Center.
“I promise you, this will be a blessing to you,” Love said to those who’ve signed up to volunteer. “You will be blown away by the things you learn, the stories that you hear, the people that you meet.
“I know you may feel like, ‘You’re asking one more thing of me,’” she said, “But in all reality, I want to give you a gift, and I want to give you a perspective and an opportunity to meet some amazing people.”
At this time, those needing transportation to an overnight shelter must still go to Grace United Methodist Church around 5:30 p.m. to sign up and catch the bus.
Love said Wednesday night that a large church is going through the inspection process on Thursday and will likely be approved to be an overnight shelter site for people at the Expo Center. That means people who come to the Expo Center and need overnight shelter won’t have to bother going to Grace. If and when that happens, the Daily Citizen will update this story.
If you are interested in volunteering for a shift at any of the daytime or overnight shelters or providing food through this weekend, click here. To donate to provide supplies, click here.
Pastor begs homeless people to seek shelter
Before wrapping up the Facebook live to announce the opening of the Expo Center, Love took a minute to address her unsheltered friends who are resistant to seeking services and shelter.
“To all of you who I love so deeply that may be out there right now thinking, ‘It’s not going to be that bad. I’ve seen these forecasts before,’’ Love said. “Listen to me. It is going to be that bad. And I need you to come inside. This is too dangerous for you to try to be tough. This is too dangerous for you to try to stay outside.
“I don’t want to have to go check tents Friday and Saturday mornings and worry about what I’m going to find,” she said. “We are working our booties off to try to have space for you to be warm.
“For some of you, I know there’s mental health triggers. I know that there’s anxiety coming into big spaces,” Love continued. “We will try to find the right place for you to make you as successful as possible while you stay warm … Please, please, please come inside.”
