A local nonprofit will use a major grant it received to expand shelters for those experiencing homelessness. The Kitchen Inc. offers transitional housing and support for families without a permanent place to live. It was recently awarded the biggest grant in its 42-year history -- $2.5 million from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund.
Meleah Spencer, the organization’s chief executive officer, said the Day 1 Families Fund is invitation-only. She received an email inviting the Kitchen, Inc. to apply and at first was skeptical.
"If I can be completely honest with you," she said, "I thought, 'am I being punked right now?' "
Once she found out it was legit, she said she had to keep it quiet while The Kitchen, Inc. went through a rigorous application process.
And on December 1, the nonprofit sent out a press release announcing the award. Spencer said it will be used, in part, to expand their shelter program, which serves families, from 15 beds to 25.
Each unit at the shelter at Glenstone and Chestnut Expressway is like a small apartment with a kitchen and a bathroom with a walk-in shower. Second floor units can connect to the ones below so children can have their own space. There are also a laundry room, computer lab and playground.
Stephanie Ireland with Ireland Architects designed the shelters. She’s a big proponent of ending homelessness in Springfield, according to Spencer, and she met with those who stayed at the Missouri Hotel shelter when it was open and learned what their needs were.
Spencer said the money will be used to support families who will be coming into their shelter and to strengthen The Kitchen Inc.'s family-focused case management "so we can make sure we're giving the best case management to those families that are coming into that shelter while also enhancing our on-site support services to those families so they can quickly move from crisis to permanent housing and be on that path to success."
The Kitchen, Inc. connects people with needed services like mental health and health care. Case workers provide transportation to medical appointments for those at the shelter. They also help parents find jobs by working with MERS Goodwill and its Excel program, the Missouri Career Center and Ozarks Tech "because we want to help our families increase their job skills so they can get higher paying jobs so they can get that increased income so they can stay stably housed," said Spencer.
The Kitchen Inc. also helps those with jobs find childcare. She said they plan to ramp up all their services using grant money and bring in additional partners to help them do that.
Better for kids
Children at the shelters get to stay at their schools, and the school bus comes to pick them up. Families can stay together, which is better for children. And children often don’t realize they’re in a shelter.
“That’s so much less traumatizing for those little kiddos and to make sure that they’re just staying in a safe environment and just living like any other normal kiddo is out there that’s housed," said Spencer.
She said their model allows people to stay in shelters in a dignified manner offers a safe place when shelter-in-place is necessary such as during the pandemic.
When families are ready to move out to a place of their own, The Kitchen, Inc. helps them furnish and equip their new home.
The nonprofit serves about 180 folks each year in their shelter, according to Spencer. Families are referred through One Door and can stay up to 90 days.
She hopes other communities will model what they’ve done.
It’s a game changer for The Kitchen, Inc. and the community, she said.
"You know, it's changing the families that are homeless in our community," she said. "But it has also, you know, put Springfield on the map, too."
But, she pointed out, the grant award doesn't mean they don't still need community support.
"We’re still fundraising for our everyday support,” said Spencer. “This is only to expand and make our family services stronger and better.”
Support is needed because the number of families in the community experiencing homelessness is growing, she said. And they’re seeing more cases of chronic homelessness.
She hopes the grant award draws attention to a model that she believes works, and that will lead to more money coming into the community for other shelters like theirs. That, along with more affordable housing in Springfield, according to Spencer, would reduce the extreme need for crisis cold weather shelters each winter.
