About
The amazing folks at the Drew Lewis Foundation / The Fairbanks are opening their gym/cafeteria/auditorium space for Crisis Cold Weather Sheltering, operated and staffed by a collaboration between Brentwood Christian Church, First Unitarian Universalist Church and National Avenue Christian Church.
We will open when temps are forecasted to drop at or below freezing (32 degrees) through March.
This decision will be made daily by 3pm and posted on this group as well as announced on the Shelter SGF app provided by The Connecting Grounds.
We chose The Fairbanks, a former elementary school turned community center, because it is walkable for some of our guests, and with many CCWS locations being inside churches, we wanted to be able to offer a non-church space (as we know many experience church harm, and we don't want that to be a barrier to shelter).
We offer low-barrier shelter for people of all genders, including LGBTQ folks, couples, adult family groups, as well as their pets and service animals.
Grace United Methodist Church hosts a meal every night of the week from Nov 1-March 30 at 5:30 PM. From here, when temperatures dictate opening, shelter guests can sign up for a spot at a number of different shelters that offer hospitality for different populations of folks. Pets must be crated outside during meals, and are not allowed on public transit, rather pet transporter volunteers will meet pet owners at Grace and drive crated pets to the Fairbanks. Transportation via City Utility Bus or CPO Shuttle will be provided from Grace to the various shelter sites in the evenings that are cold enough for CCWS to open, and in the morning from shelter sites to the Veterans Coming Home Center. If there is space available, shelters also accept walk-ins, discharges from hospitals, and guests brought to shelter by first responders or outreach teams. For young people seeking shelter, please visit the YouthConnect Center.
All of this work requires a wonderful team of volunteers, as well as steady in-kind and monetary donations, if you are interested in volunteering please email allgenderccws417@gmail.com
We are gratefully funded by many individual donors, organizations including our three churches, and receive grants from The Musgrave Foundation and Springfield Black Tie both facilitated through Community Foundation of the Ozarks.
You can find the Facebook page for CCWS here.
We will update this page with volunteer sign ups and CCWS openings when the cold weather seasaon begins in 2024.