Kitchen CEO: Misunderstanding causing donations to waver

Donations are down to the tune of more than $204,000 this summer at The Kitchen Inc.

The cause, according to CEO Rorie Orgeron, is the homeless support services nonprofit is experiencing a misunderstanding in the community.

“We’ve been hearing last year and into this year about a lot of people thinking we had closed,” he said. “There were so many people who associated The Kitchen with the Missouri Hotel.”

The Commercial Street homeless shelter shut down last year as The Kitchen moved to a housing-first model.

The nonprofit now helps families move into permanent, affordable housing supported by case management. In the change from a central location for services to housing throughout the community, The Kitchen increased its number of case managers to 22 from six, Orgeron said.
 
The Kitchen’s housing programs include Housing First, Home at Last and The Rare Breed.  

Through the end of May, donations totaled $256,867, a 44 percent decrease compared to $461,681 at the same time last year, Orgeron said.

Last year, The Kitchen’s donations totaled $1.9 million, down from $2.75 million a year earlier, according to Springfield Business Journal list research. The nonprofit has a $3.6 million operating budget this year, according to the research.

The current season isn’t helping.

“We’re going into summertime, which usually is a slow time,” he said, pointing to political campaigns in an election year also drawing donations away from the charity.