Over the past couple of years, Kelbi Schlueter has worked to make a difference in Springfield building relationships with the homeless as community coordinator at Eden Village off Division Street.
Recently, she talked with the Scoop about her volunteering, and her efforts to contribute to a tiny-home community for the homeless.
Q: When did you open Eden Village?
A: The grand opening of Eden Village was in August of 2018.
Q: Why did you choose to open Eden Village as a non-profit organization?
A: David and Linda Brown started something called the Gathering Tree in 2010, which was a drop-in center that started one night a week. They moved downtown around that time, and they would cross paths with a lot of homeless people, and they felt kind of compelled like they wanted to do something. So they started the Gathering Tree, and it started one night a week, and it’s kind of evolved to being open five nights a week in the evenings. It was basically just a hangout place for the homeless. They can get coffee, play games, use the computers. It was just a safe place for them to be in. At some point in their journey in developing their relationships with the homeless, they just wanted to do more. So Linda had in her mind that she wanted to do tiny homes, but that was about the extent of it.
My husband and I moved here to Springfield in January of 2016, and my husband, Nate, worked for a nonprofit in Austin, Texas, where they did something pretty similar but bigger called Community First. When we moved here, we were told that we should meet David and Linda Brown, and we had our first conversation in February of 2016 about potentially doing a tiny-home community for the homeless. They had the heart, and he kind of had the knowledge. We raised our first dollar in August of 2016, and I think from that point after we raised our first dollar, it just kind of escalated so quickly. We then had our grand opening in August of 2018. After you encounter and develop relationships with people that live outside and carry everything they own in a backpack, you know after a while it becomes more than just giving them a sleeping bag. You want to do more, so this was our solution in being able to do something about their situation.
Q: What made you want to make a difference in the community?
A: I think for David and Linda Brown, who started the Gathering Tree, it was about crossing paths with the same people every day, and you start having conversations. It goes from having conversation to “let’s do something.” I think we all have it in us that we want to do something, but not everybody knows what to do. For a long time, it was enough just to serve meals or have a safe place for them to go, but then you get to know people. You get to know their stories, you want to do something, and you can house them. You wrestle with all of these thoughts that somebody should do something, so through so many years of having relationships with people that have experienced homelessness, you kind of become familiar with their struggle and the things they need. You know everybody wants to give them care packages and all of those things are wonderful, but how do you transform them from that condition to something better?
You know that it is not an easy solution, or everyone would be out there doing it. I think we knew we could do Eden Village from previous knowledge of what we saw before us in Austin, but because of our experience, this helped create something more than just housing to live. It created the community that makes the difference. By creating the village, we gave them something to be a part of and participate in, and so this is what we think is where we will ultimately transform lives and be successful in the community that we give them.
Q: What are struggles that you have had to overcome so far?
A: Homelessness is not an easy transition. It takes time, and not everyone can live in a community, such as Eden Village. Our rules are very basic, and we ask them to obey civil law, and we act swiftly if we have situations. We have such need in this town. I get calls every day and have a stack of applications, and we have had a few that haven’t worked out, and it’s disappointing and sad.
Q: Do you think our Springfield community is becoming more accepting to Eden Village?
A: If there are naysayers out there, they don’t show up around here. The support has been mind-blowing, and I think people care and people want to be a part of something. It is just you don’t always know what works and what doesn’t work, and I think that we are proving that this works and people are excited about that. We have just gotten an unbelievable support from Springfield. We get people that stop in every day and call, and you think that not everyone knows about it, but the support has been remarkable.
Q: What are the opportunities for us as a community to volunteer and get involved?
A: There are so many ways for people to get involved — anywhere from people serving residents to just coming and spending time with residents. There is opportunity to work in the gardens and landscaping. There are also home teams that are available for the residents if they want one. They are little small groups of three to five people to walk alongside them for the first year living at Eden and just build relationships and friendships. That is the only requirement, and we just ask them to meet once a month for the first year for that extra support. Every third Saturday, we have a general work day. People can show up from 9 (a.m.) to 12 p.m., and lunch will be provided. We get a lot of Drury and (Missouri State) college students. There is always lots of stuff to be done here.
Q: How did your faith contribute to the opening of Eden Village?
A: Well, I can only really speak for myself, but it really is because we love Jesus. We are open to anybody and everybody that wants to come serve with us. Just on a personal journey, way back when we first started wanting to help homeless people, we were just in a small group of people that we wanting to do something “missional,” and for six months we sat around and talked about all the missional things we could be doing. We felt super frustrated by that because we are talking about it but not doing anything. Nate and I just started by doing a lot of care packages and just handing them through windows, and a lot of people ask the question, “Do I give them money? What do I do?”
So, part of out journey has been wanting to serve people and wanting to live like Jesus, and so it started with “let’s just do the care package thing,” and it wasn’t original, but it was a start to doing something. Our life really did start to change. This turned into a thing where Nate quit his job and just relied on support of friends and family. They did help us, so we could try and help people, but we barely made it. It was probably pretty stupid, but it was an adventure and a learning experience. For each of us, it’s rooted in “What would Jesus do?” and we know what he would do, who he would be hanging out with — he would be talking to the homeless person on the corner, and we want to follow after his example. We never dreamed in our wildest imagination that those encounters would have led us to this.
Q: How can we as a community be more sympathetic to the homelessness and get pass the stereotypes?
A: Like with anything, I think that if people would be brave enough to hear their experience of the story and their life experience, there is only one response, and that is compassion. You don’t walk away from any of their stories and say, “Oh, you deserve this at all.” If you take the time to listen to somebody and take the time to understand all the things that have happened in their life, nobody is homeless by choice. The No. 1 cause of homelessness is the loss of family, but there are several other things that contribute to the loss of family where someone ends up on the streets. It is so vital to have a community. Homelessness is a form of trauma. Every day, you are in survival mode, and when that goes on for years, it is just this mentality that causes extreme stress. So if you have a little urge and want to do something, I just always encourage people to talk to people.
Q: What is the legacy you hope to leave?
A: Legacy of love. It is so interesting to be here, but at the root of everything, it is to love, even if it isn’t someone that you cross paths with every day.
