The Community Partnership of the Ozarks (CPO) has released statistics highlighting the impact of their Crisis Cold Weather Shelters during the 2024-2025 winter season. This initiative, coordinated by Ozarks Alliance to End Homelessness and managed by CPO, provides shelter, food and necessary supplies to individuals without housing through local resources. According to the data released in late May, the shelters accommodated an average of over 200 individuals per night, with their slowest night still reaching over 100 individuals.
Michelle Garand, the vice president of Affordable Housing and Homelessness at Community Partnership of the Ozarks said that, despite being able to help many people find shelter, last winter was still a challenge for them.
“We lost about 50 beds due to the closing of one of our shelter providers,” she said. “Not only did we see a decrease in the number of beds, but we saw an increase in the number of people looking to access those overnight shelter options.”
Community support is vital
The work couldn’t happen without volunteers and partners from the community. The data shows that CPO had nearly 2,000 volunteer shifts filled this winter, the equivalent of about 12,000 hours of service. The estimated economic impact of the volunteers’ time was $377,020.08.
But Garand said as the number of individuals using the shelters peaks, it can be more difficult to find people willing to help. She said both volunteers and partners are always needed to help provide adequate space and resources for individuals experiencing homelessness. Volunteering can be done in a variety of ways, whether staying overnight at the shelter, serving food, delivering supplies or transporting pets.
“We can’t open the shelters if we don’t have those volunteers to help,” Garand said. “It’s so critical to be able to have a pool of volunteers to pull from.”
How to get involved
You can fill out the volunteer interest form to find volunteer opportunities.
Partnerships and donations can help provide both community support and funding towards the resources needed to accommodate these individuals, especially the space to host them. Thirteen different partners, many of which were local churches, served as shelter sites for these individuals this winter. “Those local dollars mean so much,” said Garand.
She adds that something as simple as property owners renting space out or supporting local nonprofits who prioritize affordable housing can also make a difference. You can request more information about partnerships or donations through the partner interest form.
In a recent KSMU report, Emily Fessler, coordinator of CPO's Continuum of Care — a statewide initiative to fund resources and housing to individuals experiencing homelessness — said that the estimated count of unsheltered individuals was close to 1,000 as of February 2025, and she believed it was slowly increasing. Homelessness is estimated through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s point-in-time count; a street count taken on a single night each year. Fessler said it’s hard to rely on that data because of how often housing situations fluctuate.
Homelessness is a national crisis throughout the United States, yet most don’t understand how big of a picture it truly paints. Fessler shared a picture that is far from black and white in a recent KSMU interview. She noted the different categories that homelessness falls into, per the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. These categories range from literal homelessness to individuals fleeing from domestic violence to seniors who are on a fixed income and can’t meet the rising rent and mortgage costs. While most unsheltered individuals’ situations stem from very different scenarios, these shelters still provide basic, yet crucial necessities to provide safety and hope.
Are there permanent solutions?
However, Fessler said the shelters act as a bandage over a much bigger problem; where do they go from here?
“There's different pathways that an individual needs to have access to, whether that be moving into transitional housing, a sober living program, direct to permanent housing or into a housing program that's a federal funded housing program,” she said.
Without these paths forward, Fessler said all these people are left with a temporary fix but no real permanent solution or path towards one. The One Door Program, an initiative that is overseen by CPO, is a centralized access point for federally and non-federally funded housing and shelter services. Individuals experiencing homelessness are assessed through this program, and then CPO can refer them to housing and resources across the region that meet their specific needs. Individuals that are the most vulnerable are prioritized first.
“So, when The Kitchen (Inc.) has a family unit open, we have already prioritized the family and gotten them referred as quickly as possible and housed as quickly as possible,” said Garand. “It's the bottleneck that we have for exiting people from those shelter and housing programs into mainstream affordable housing.”
As they prepare for next winter, Garand emphasized the need for volunteers. Volunteering, especially overnight, can be daunting. She said plenty of volunteers are critical for the shelters to open and function properly. Garand added that even volunteering at the O’Reilly Center for Hope by helping individuals fill out different applications for housing, programs or governmental services makes a difference.
According to their website, you can express your interests when filling out the volunteer interest form, and the CPO team will work to create a volunteer experience that works best for you.
