Year: 2017

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (November 7, 2017) — The Kitchen, Inc. has met its $4 million dollar initial construction goal for the new O’Reilly Family campus. The non-profit launched its capital campaign in 2015 in order to raise the funds to build a new emergency shelter and support services building located at the northeast corner of Chestnut Expressway and Glenstone. The Kitchen began construction on the new shelter in June of this year. The decision to build came after close evaluation of the current buildings on The Kitchen’s Commercial Street campus. It was quickly realized that is was not cost effective to…

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (November 2, 2017) — The Night at the Rare Breed is Friday, November 3rd and serves to create awareness of youth homelessness in our community. It occurs in conjunction with National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. The average age of first-time homeless youth on their own in Springfield is only 16-years-old, and more than half of those who are homeless were kicked out of their homes. With no support system or money to live, it’s a terrifyingly brutal life on the streets. Imagine being a teenager who has nowhere safe to sleep, no food to eat and no way…

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (October 23, 2017) — The Kitchen, Inc. is pleased to announce it has hired  Meleah Spencer as its new Chief Executive Officer. Spencer, a native of southwest Missouri, has spent the last 10 years in fundraising and development and most recently served as the Executive Director at the Discovery Center of Springfield. Her passion to prevent and end homelessness began when she met Sister Lorraine Biebel during a school project in college. “Meeting Sister Lorraine and seeing her selflessness at work serving the homeless population truly inspired me. I am beyond delighted and honored to be able to…

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (October 12, 2017) — Next week, The Kitchen, Inc. will celebrate the completion of McClernon Villas with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The ceremony will take place on Thursday, October 19 at 10:00 a.m. McClernon Villas is located in north Springfield at 1320 E. McClernon Street. After the ribbon cutting ceremony, one of the apartments will be open to tour. McClernon Villas is a housing development which helps meet one of our community’s most critical needs—affordable permanent housing. The McClernon development is the result of collaboration between several organizations, including The Kitchen, Inc. partnering with Housing Plus, L.L.C., Wallace…

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (September 20, 2017) – At The Kitchen, Inc., our mission in Springfield is to end homelessness.  Our goal is getting more people off the streets, treat their problems, and get them into permanent housing. We know this will make Springfield stronger, with a larger, better work force and cohesive, healthy families. For almost 35 years, The Kitchen has been serving our neighbors in need from our Commercial Street location. While the services we provide are not changing, our location is and the move signifies a new beginning for our organization. On June 8th, The Kitchen, Inc. broke ground…