More than a year after Connecting Grounds founder Pastor Christie Love resigned and moved to Washington, operations and services at the Outreach Center are carrying on largely unchanged.
Unsheltered people continue to rely on the center at 3000 W. Chestnut Expressway for to-go food items, hot meals, hygiene products, clothing, shoes, bus passes and access to social services — all thanks to private donations and community partnerships.
On Thursday, staff from AIDS Project of the Ozarks helped people apply for Medicaid and provided education and resources for harm reduction. Volunteers served up hot lunches thanks to the daily donations of leftovers from the CoxHealth cafeteria.
And a Convoy of Hope truck delivered 10 pallets of donations — food, hygiene supplies and new socks.
“A lot of people just assumed when Christie left that we would shut the doors and be done. That’s not the case,” said Mike Gariss, donations manager. “We’ve been rolling right along ever since Christie left with the help of our community partners.”
Gariss, along with the center’s director Marcus Whalen, gave the Springfield Daily Citizen a tour on Aug. 21 to share about some of the changes, both positive and negative, since Love left the organization.
Funding shortage could have big impact this winter
Gariss and Whalen said the Connecting Grounds has many generous supporters and regular donors.
But funding is down, and they don’t expect to be able to do street outreach this winter.
At this time, they only have two black trash bags of sock hats to give out and very few sleeping bags and blankets.
And more importantly, the Connecting Grounds Outreach Center cannot afford to purchase HotHands handwarmers, a lifesaving item when temperatures get frigid.
In the past, street outreach volunteers would give six HotHands packets to each person they encountered who was stuck outdoors during freezing temperatures: two for their hands, two for their feet and two to tuck inside their clothing.
But in previous years, the Connecting Grounds benefited from a local comedian’s fundraiser and funds from ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) to purchase HotHands in bulk. Those funding sources are gone.
Both Whalen and Gariss were once unsheltered and speak from experience having used handwarmers to prevent frostbite and hypothermia.
“And if you don’t have a place to sleep that night or you don’t have a sleeping bag, that may keep you from freezing to death,” Gariss said. “And we just don’t have a budget to buy HotHands.”
Transitional homes continue to operate
Under Pastor Love’s leadership, the Connecting Grounds was able to purchase two homes in Springfield to be used for a transitional housing program. The housing program continues to operate, with capacity for four women and six men.
Gariss and Whalen explained the transitional housing program operates following the guidelines created by Pastor Love.
Residents volunteer at the outreach center to pay for their bed. When someone first comes into the program, they are on “house restriction” for two weeks.
“That means they can’t do anything but come (to the outreach center) for two weeks because a lot of the people that were taken into the program are fighting with their sobriety,” Gariss said. “We want to get them completely clean and sober. They volunteer here for 60 days. Then they’re allowed to go out and try to get a job. If they get a full-time job, from the time they get their first paycheck they have an additional 90 days to find some other housing.”
Nonprofit misses out on grant funding
According to Whalen and Gariss, the Connecting Grounds — as a nonprofit that is no longer under the umbrella of the now-defunct church Pastor Love founded in 2017 — misses out on a lot of grant funding because they don’t require individuals to show an identification to receive services.
“They want people’s names and everything,” Whalen said. “If you don’t give them individual people’s information, you don’t qualify for the grant.”
“We can’t share that information,” Gariss added. “It’s a violation of their privacy. A lot of these people are homeless. A lot of these people have legal problems, and they know they can come in here without an ID and be safe.”
Another change they’ve had to make due to no longer being affiliated with a church is the elimination of the free medical care clinic. In the past, a handful of nurses would volunteer to provide basic medical care at the Connecting Grounds Outreach Center.
“The Good Samaritan laws do not apply to us anymore,” Gariss explained. “When we were under the church umbrella, we could have nurses coming here to volunteer their time.”
‘People can change’
Chelsi Bennett is a current resident at the women’s home. She said she’d been homeless in Springfield for about eight years. During that time, she struggled with substance abuse.
Bennett successfully completed Greene County’s treatment court program and has been clean for three years.
“I decided to come here because I still needed accountability. Even though I had so much clean time, I still felt like I might relapse,” Bennett said. “So I decided to go into a program. And since I had been volunteering here and was familiar with this place, they decided to let me in.”
Bennett spoke about her time living on the streets of Springfield and being addicted to methamphetamine.
“I didn’t eat well. I didn’t take care of myself. I was on meth all the time. I rarely slept, but when I did it was at parks or places like that,” she said. “At nighttime, I mostly just walked around. It was a really sad story.”
“This is me when I was hopeless,” she said, showing an old mugshot. “People can change.”
APO provides harm reduction supplies
One change to the Connecting Grounds Outreach Center that is noticeable from the street is the red vending machine sitting near the entrance of the building.
The vending machine — courtesy of AIDS Project of the Ozarks — provides harm reduction supplies including naloxone (opioid overdose reversal medication), condoms, fentanyl tests, wound care kits and sharps containers (for safe needle disposal).
When possible, the vending machine is stocked with basic survival gear like ponchos and HotHands.
All items are free.
On the third Thursday of every month, AIDS Project of the Ozarks sets up a table inside the Outreach Center with staff to provide harm reduction education and supplies.
APO staffers John Gray and Derrick Wilson were providing this education to anyone who stopped by their table on Thursday, Aug. 21.
“Harm reduction is helping folks not overdose and stay safer if they’re using substances, keeping wounds cleaner,” Wilson explained, “making sure that we don’t have cascading issues with bloodborne illness and that kind of thing.”
In addition to the education and free supplies, Wilson said they can also provide rapid testing for HIV and hepatitis C.
“The big thing in harm reduction is meeting people where they are, getting them tools to be as safe as possible,” Gray said, “just so they have another chance at, you know, another chapter.”
An APO staffer also comes to the Connecting Grounds every Thursday to help people apply or reapply for Medicaid.
Convoy of Hope helps keep doors open
Convoy of Hope, a Greene County-based worldwide disaster relief organization, is one of the Connecting Grounds Outreach Center’s most important supporters, Gariss said as he watched a Convoy of Hope employee unload pallets of donations.
“We couldn’t keep our doors open without their help,” Gariss said. “I don’t know what we would do without them.”
Every month, Convoy of Hope delivers about 10 pallets of food items, hygiene products and sometimes clothing such as socks.
In the first half of 2025, Convoy of Hope has resourced the Connecting Grounds with more than $64,000-worth of products, according to Convoy’s national spokesperson Ethan Forhetz.
In 2024, Convoy delivered more than $107,000 worth of supplies to the Outreach Center.
“Convoy of Hope is pleased to partner with The Connecting Grounds to meet the needs of the unsheltered community in Springfield,” Forhetz wrote in an email. “A big part of what Convoy of Hope does is partner with organizations that are doing important and meaningful work on the ground. Convoy is blessed with resources, so what we work to do is get those resources to groups like The Connecting Grounds to empower them to meet more needs of people in our community.”
Thankful for center’s founder
Whalen and Gariss, who used to be “camp neighbors” when they were homeless, said they both were able to get off the streets thanks to Pastor Love’s help and programs.
Gariss said he used to have a great job as a subcontractor installing self-checkout machines in Walmart stores. Like many, he lost his job at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and soon became homeless. He met Pastor Love and began volunteering almost daily at the Connecting Grounds.
“I’m an old country boy, you know. I camped my whole life. But camping and living on the streets are two completely different things,” Gariss said. “I would either walk or ride a bus all the way across town to volunteer and never hardly ever miss a day. Then eventually Christie sponsored me into a sober living (program).”
When he got out of the sober living program, Gariss moved into the Connecting Grounds’ transitional housing program. Eventually, he was hired on as staff.
“I’ll be honest with you. I could be working somewhere, making way more money than what I make here,” Gariss said. “But I know when I was at my lowest point in my life, this place helped keep me alive. I mean that literally.
“So I feel I owe this place something. I owe Christie and to carry on what she started,” he continued. “I’ll take a lot less money to do that and know that I’m helping somebody every day.”
Whalen agreed.
“They’re big shoes to fill,” he said, referring to carrying on Pastor Love’s mission. “She did such an amazing job in gathering the people that sponsor us and help us out, to getting organized and creating the processes that we go through on a daily basis. … I like to think that they’re done in a way that she would be proud of.”
Want to help? Here is the Connecting Ground’s Amazon Wishlist.
Click here to learn ways to support the Crisis Cold Weather Shelter program this winter:
Shelter Supplies – pillows, pillowcases, blankets, first-aid supplies, hot hands, snacks (granola bars, coffee, tea, oatmeal, etc). These items can be dropped off at CPO’s O’Reilly Center for Hope (1518 E. Dale St.) during business hours. Funds can also be donated to help purchase these items, and those donations can be coordinated by getting in contact with Emily Fessler at efessler@cpozarks.org.
Shelter Spaces – looking to continue to expand capacity due to the growing need. Thanks to the City Council for extending the Declaration of Housing & Economic Calamity which allows for non-traditional shelter spaces, such as churches, business, and non-profits, to open their doors as a shelter during the winter months. If anyone is interested in becoming a Crisis Cold Weather Shelter, they can contact Emily Fessler at efessler@cpozarks.org.
Volunteers – We are looking not just for individuals in the community interested in volunteering for the crisis cold weather shelters, but also organizations and businesses to sponsor one week during the season for back up volunteers. Soon, CPO will be reaching out and connecting with organizations and businesses to look at week-long sponsorship of volunteers throughout the season, but if anyone is interested they can reach out to Emily Fessler at efessler@cpozarks.org.
More about changes to the CCWS program:
CPO is grateful for the City of Springfield’s commitment to an annual allocation of Marijuana Tax money that will be used to support the Crisis Cold Weather Shelter program.
These funds will be used to support a year-round full-time Crisis Cold Weather Shelter Specialist to coordinate efforts, transportation, and shelter and volunteering efforts.
With this commitment from the City of Springfield, the Crisis Cold Weather Shelter system is looking at implementing a new shelter sign-up system, a decentralized approach to transportation, meals, and shelter access.
Additionally, the Crisis Cold Weather Shelter system is looking to create a more effective system that will be sustainable for years to come that addresses gaps and needs in a new way. More information on the Crisis Cold Weather Shelter system and how to access will be coming out this fall.
