Photos courtesy ShutterstockLocal shelters work together to provide shelter for the homeless this winter.
Life
Help for the Unhoused in Springfield, Missouri
A coalition of local organizations provides shelter for our unhoused neighbors during the coldest months.
By Colin Shea Denniston
Jan 2023
With coordination through the Community Partnership of the Ozarks, the Ozarks Alliance to End Homelessness has created a network of crisis cold weather shelters, bringing together local faith-based and not-for-profit organizations to provide shelter to vulnerable members of the Springfield community.
According to Adam Bodendieck, Director of Homeless Services for the Community Partnership of the Ozarks, the shelters can see up to 200 individuals on the coldest nights of the year. The CPO and Ozarks Alliance to End Homelessness partnership has helped to streamline certain overarching issues like volunteer recruitment, conducting trainings and coordinating pick-up and transportation.
“We work with city utilities transit and then our own shuttle to provide transportation to and from the shelters [and] coordinate with various meal site providers to make sure that folks are getting dinner as part of the process,” says Bodendieck.
How to Help
Interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities or for ways you can support the unsheltered population in Springfield? Bodendieck suggests starting with a visit to the Community Partnership of the Ozarks crisis cold weather shelter website. “It’s a good way to get plugged in, because there’s no shortage of opportunities,” Bodendieck says.
