New shelters to open as arctic cold threatens Springfield's unsheltered

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional shelter sites.

With the National Weather Service predicting a dangerous drop in temperatures later this week, members of Springfield’s Crisis Cold Weather Shelter committee are scrambling to find more indoor warm spaces for the unsheltered community.

The overnight crisis cold weather shelters have been at or near capacity in recent weeks.

These shelters open on nights when the National Weather Service predicts the overnight temperature to hit 32 or colder.

Service providers expect even more people to seek shelter as the cold weather persists and temperatures drop into single digits (or below zero) later this week.

Connecting Grounds Pastor Christie Love started reaching out to other churches and faith communities over the weekend, asking if they’d be willing to open their church buildings as overflow shelters later this week.

So far, the following faith communities have said yes to opening as overnight shelters on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (Christmas Eve):

• St. John's Chapel at 4344 S. Fremont Ave., is going to serve as an all-gender shelter for up to 15 people on those three nights. Love said she’s currently helping that church schedule volunteers and get supplies.
• National Avenue Christian Church at 1515 S. National Ave., is going to serve as an overflow shelter for families. National Avenue has capacity for about six families, Love said. The church is also going to serve as a daytime shelter for those families, so folks don’t have to worry about finding a place to be during the day.
• The now-vacant St. John’s United Church of Christ Church building at 1110 N. Main St., is going to serve as an overflow shelter for women. This space will have capacity for 10 women. Love said she’s working to schedule volunteers for this shelter since the St. John’s UCC congregation is no longer meeting.
• Brentwood Christian Church at 1900 E. Barataria St. is going to serve as an all-gender shelter for about 20 individuals and pets. Brentwood will allow folks to stay at the church during the day on Friday and Saturday.
• 425 (The Venues) at 425 W. Walnut is going to serve as an all-gender shelter for up to 20 people on Thursday and Saturday nights.
• Freedom City Church, at 1477 N. Broadway, will serve as a shelter for up to 20.
• The Venues at 2616 E. Battlefield will serve as an all-gender shelter for up to 75 on Thursday and Friday night.

Representatives from the Greene County Office of Emergency Management and the National Weather Service were part of the weekly Crisis Cold Weather Shelter Committee’s Zoom meeting on the morning of Dec. 19.

Michelle Garand with Community Partnership of the Ozarks helps lead the Crisis Cold Weather Shelter Committee. Garand was pleased to have representatives from the city attend Monday’s meeting and be so anxious to jump in and help.

Springfield Fire Chief David Pennington asked for the shelter site locations and points of contact during that morning meeting, Garand said. And by Monday afternoon, at least two of the necessary inspections were completed.

“They are all just working really hard to make sure that we get all these identified locations up and going just as soon as possible,” Garand said. “We are also working with the Office of Emergency Management to get the supplies the new faith communities will need: cots, blankets, etc. Everyone is trying to rally those types of things as well.”

Garand said the committee is hoping to find a large, central location that could serve as a daytime warming center in the coming days.

Here are the existing crisis cold weather shelter locations in operation this winter:

• East Sunshine Church of Christ can have up to 50 men.
• Grace United Methodist Church can have up to 20 women.
• Asbury United Methodist Church can have up to 35 individuals and pets.
• Unity of Springfield Church can have up to 22 individuals.
• Sacred Heart Catholic Church can have up to 25 men.
• The Connecting Grounds is using its church building as an overnight shelter for four families every night through April regardless of the temperature.

Revive 66 tiny campers are unheated

The Revive 66 Campground has 50 tiny campers that are usually open to individuals and their pets. These are free on nights when the crisis cold weather shelters open. However, the campers do not have a heat source and are not safe to be used as a shelter when the temperatures dip well below freezing as predicted Thursday through Sunday.

Instead of opening the Revive 66 Campground as a cold weather shelter, Eden Village I is going to open its community building as an overnight cold weather shelter. This will have capacity for 25 individuals and allows pets.

(Eden Village I is a tiny home community for disabled and chronically homeless people. It is operated by the Gathering Tree, the same nonprofit that operates the Revive 66 Campground.)

With the addition of the four new shelter sites that will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, the total capacity during this dangerous cold snap will be about 220 beds for individuals and shelter for 10 families.

According to the Connecting Grounds’ Street Census (a running census of all the people who come to the church’s outreach center for help and those encountered by the church’s outreach teams), there are currently about 800 unsheltered people in and around Springfield and another 181 living in vehicles, Love said.

‘Not remotely enough to meet the need'

“While it’s great (the additional shelter sites), it’s still not even remotely enough to meet the need,” she said. “If you've got an empty building, this is the time to use it.

“If you are a faith community looking for a way to embody the spirit of Christmas, this is the way to do it, by opening your building,” Love continued. “I understand that it is a big sacrifice and a lot of logistics and planning. But we’ve got a lot of really vulnerable (people) that stand to lose their lives or suffer serious injury due to the cold if we can’t get them inside.”

The Hauxeda will continue to report this week about what services and warming shelters are going to be available later this week.

According to the National Weather Service, Thursday night’s low temperature will be around 7 degrees below zero. Friday’s high will be around 7 degrees and the low will be around 2 below, while Saturday’s high will be around 16 with a low around 2 degrees.