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People who are living in their vehicles are struggling more than ever to pay for gas to keep their car going.

We had a woman in here the other day (with) skyrocketing blood pressure. “It’s everything from urgent wounds to hospital referrals to high blood pressure. “Our medical clinic is literally busy from the second we open the door to the second we close the door,” Love said. “Children’s Division is juggling this rapidly increasing need and there’s nowhere to put kids.”Īnd with the increase of unsheltered older people, there’s an increase in medical risks associated with life on the streets. “But we’re also out of foster homes,” Love said. “We’re seeing an increased number of kids that are in tents.”īecause of the Connecting Grounds’ Family Connection program, Love and her staff are in constant communication with Children’s Division staff about these situations involving families with kids. “We’re seeing an increase in the number of kids that are living in cars with their parents,” she said. But for whatever reason - be it the rising cost of groceries or rent or a disagreement - that living situation was no longer sustainable. Regarding that uptick in the number of families with children, Love said they are finding many of these families had been doubled-up with other relatives. I mean, resources are lower across the spectrum of nonprofits and service agencies.” Reporter Jackie Rehwald speaks with Pastor Christie Love at The Connecting Grounds. “Demand is higher and resources are lower. “So there’s a lot of, ‘I don’t know where to go.

#KALEIDOSCOPE SPRINGFIELD MO SHOES AND BAGS UPDATE#

“There’s a lot more fear than we’ve seen in past summers, because there’s a lot more people that are new to being out here.Īccording to Love, they are seeing about 60 to 70 new people every two weeks when they update the street census numbers.

Love said she’s noticed a couple of disturbing trends in recent weeks: there’s a sharp increase in people who are newly homeless, there’s an increase of families with children (many of whom are living in vehicles), and the number of people in their 50s, 60s and 70s is quickly increasing.

Volunteers and staff with The Connecting Grounds Church are continually collecting data on and surveying folks who come to the Outreach Center for services and those they encounter on the streets and in camps about their circumstances. They also bring cooling towels (when they have some), snack packs of ready-made food, sunscreen and other supplies to help people without shelter survive the heat. In coolers, the team carries bottles of cold water, small Ziploc bags filled with ice and popsicles. A street outreach volunteer brings ice outside to keep single-use water bottles cold. There’s not enough shelter.”Įvery afternoon when temps get into the mid-90s or hotter, The Connecting Grounds’ street outreach team goes out in pairs to help the unsheltered. “I’m incredibly concerned that we could have loss of life this summer simply because of the impact of the heat,” she said.

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And the skin on his feet had literally blistered and peeled off because of the heat of the concrete. “I had a gentleman who had holes in the soles of his shoes,” Love said, “and he had walked from being discharged from the hospital all the way to the downtown area looking for services that evening. Pastor Christie Love and Justin Burnett, who is interning at the church’s Outreach Center, both said they are seeing people who show signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration. Though summer got its official start just a few days ago, recent weeks of soaring temperatures and humid conditions have already taken a toll on Springfield’s ever-growing unsheltered community, according to advocates and volunteers with The Connecting Grounds Church.

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