A Springfield warming shelter is now set to open more often during cold weather.
The warming shelter, run by the Nehemiah Foundation, used to trigger open when temperatures were in the single digits.
Now, it will open overnight when the windchill is below freezing and will open 24-hours when temps dip into the single digits. That's thanks to $28,000 in new Community Development Block Grant funding.
The city of Springfield is partnering with the Nehemiah Foundation’s Faith Community Crisis Response Team, the Salvation Army, Sheltered Inc. and other local organizations to run the warming shelter.
The shelter is equipped to provide food and other services this winter including housing and addiction resources, mental health support and case management.
"Everything from getting them documentation like a driver's license, a birth certificate," said Aaron Roy, director of the Nehemiah Foundation's Faith Community Crisis Response Team. "So we're trying to have a one-stop-shop at the emergency warming shelter. Because we have a unique privilege during this season to actually have extended time with our unsheltered neighbors. "
Those staff include Roy, a project assistant and other coordinators.
How to volunteer
There's an orientation and training for volunteers
- noon to 1:30 p.m., Nov. 14,
- 5:30 to 7 p.m., Nov. 21
More orientation events will take place in December. Those interested can email aaron@nehemiahfoundation.org or call 937-325-6226 Ext. 4.
"Other than that, it's all volunteers," said Roy. "I have a donation management volunteer coordinator who's a volunteer and I have a food and prep coordinator who is a volunteer. And then we have a volunteer coordinator who is also a volunteer."
Project years in the making
This 24-hour shelter has been years in the making.
Roy said they started by opening a temporary warming shelter with the Salvation Army in 2020 during a polar vortex and the idea grew from there.
"We asked, 'Well, can we do at least single digits with the wind chill factor then as well?' So we started doing that and we operated more frequently then," he said. "And then this year, we just said, 'You know what? Let's push it a little more and what if we did 32 degrees and below?"
Back in 2023, the foundation's warming shelter saw over 90 community members who visited more than once for warmth and other services. According to Roy, 47 of those visitors were placed in a more permanent shelter.
"We were able to give away hundreds of coats hundreds of socks and underwear and hygiene kits and things like that," he said. "So we had over I think it was 157 people who had come into the shelter for various reasons to get case management or resources."
Roy said they expect even more visitors this season as SNAP benefits face delays and inflation stretches community member budgets.
"I do expect that because of that, people having to use their money on food instead of some of their other basic needs like utilities and rent, that we might have an increase in accessing the shelter for sure,” he said.
Along with the new block grant, warming center funding comes from private donors, volunteers and churches or organizations who have stepped up with monetary contributions and more.
"A lot of it, to be honest, is just donations like food and water, coats and socks and just supplies like that," he said. "I mean we get overwhelmed in a beautiful way by just the love and generosity of our volunteers and our citizens here in the city and county."
