This is a temporary solution.' About the Gathering Tree

Someday we hope to solve that, but it takes money and it takes time. So all these people are having to sleep outside every night, particularly in the winter. 'But what bothers us is we can't build them fast enough. 'Eden Village is a solution,' Brown said. 'There's been some resources made available to us recently that pushed us, and the pandemic has pushed us. What we didn't want to do was take away from our primary mission of building Eden Villages,' Brown said. 'It's an idea that we've been toying with. 'This could happen to anybody': Ex-wife of homeless man who froze to death 'In a pandemic age that we live in, we would have never foreseen eight or nine months ago when we started this idea that building these in a way that could be easily cleaned would be so important.' 'The key here is the wipe-down surfaces and the wipe-down bathroom facility that is coming,' Schlueter said. The $10 fee covers the trailer, staffing and operational expenses - yet is still much cheaper than paying for a motel room, Schlueter pointed out.Īs far as Brown and Schlueter know, the Revive 66 Campground model is the first of its kind to use tiny teardrop trailers as a shelter solution for those sleeping outside. Just as they did with the homes at Eden Village I and II, Brown and Schlueter will be looking for community supporters to sponsor the trailers.Īs for the $10 nightly fee, Schlueter said they've been talking with organizations about the possibility of creating a gift card system in some instances for folks who don't have the money. More: Former motel turned into winter homeless shelter for families The cost of a trailer - including the mattress, bedding, solar panel, heating element, fan and USB port for cellphone chargers - is about $6,000. He then found a local company, Center Creek Teardrops in Joplin, to build the rest.ĭrury's School of Architecture's fifth-year architecture students designed and built two of the teardrop trailers. Schlueter purchased the first trailer in March from a company in Colorado.

The teardrop trailers' interior are completely wipe-down surfaces that can be cleaned daily. and no smoking inside the trailer, for example. The rules will be a hybrid of campground and shelter rules: Quiet time starts at 10 p.m. You can come back the next night and rent it again.' 'It's a nightly rental so there's no (daytime) storage. and send them on their way,' Schlueter said. 'We would open the campground around 8 o'clock in the evening. 'If you pull up here on a motorcycle for the Route 66 Festival, you are welcome to rent a unit from us.' 'Anybody can rent at the campground as long as they follow campground rules,' Schlueter said. Just check in for the evening like you would at any other campground. There's not going to be any applications to fill out or hoops to jump through, Schlueter said. They've spent the past several months visiting other campgrounds, learning how most campgrounds operate and what rules are typically implemented. 'It beats sleeping in a big gymnasium with 50 other people on cots side-by-side,' Brown said. And the campground will not be operational until the bathroom trailer arrives and is connected to electric and water. There are currently seven teardrop campers at the campground - not enough to provide shelter to the large number of unsheltered homeless people in and around Springfield. Lastly, we appreciate the coordination the Browns and Nate facilitate with others in the community who are addressing homelessness.

'We are also pleased to see donations are coming in and that several organizations are supporting the effort. We are very glad there are organizations like Eden Village/The Gathering Tree willing to try new and innovative ways to address challenges in our community,' Director of Public Information Cora Scott said in an email. 'We were very impressed with both the idea and the execution of the idea. MORE: City declines to temporarily lift ban on tents for unsheltered homelessĬity officials including Mayor Ken McClure and City Manager Jason Gage toured the property on Thursday. We are going to have a 1954 Ford Fairlane vinyled out in front with our logo and use that as a sign.' 'We are trying to tie into the Route 66 theme. 'It says 'Come and see the awesome things that God has done for all of humanity,'' Schlueter said. Chestnut Expressway. It's called the Revive 66 Campground, based on the premise of Psalm 66:5.

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