Passion & Purpose: Fall 2025
A message from Winter
The poet T.S. Eliot is credited with the quote: “Home is where one starts from.” I like that thought. Each morning, my day begins with the same room, same staircase, same teapot. Home is also my emotional base. I’m incredibly fortunate to know that no matter what happens in the course of a day, I have a place to return to that provides me with the same starting point tomorrow.
We own our house, but that’s not what makes it home. That comes from the shared experiences and sense of belonging the people (and animals) within it create every day. And with that mindset, can’t home be any place that provides a sense of comfort, community or identity? I think so.
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks created such a place in early August, when we moved our headquarters to the fourth floor at 300 South Jefferson in downtown Springfield. And while we had been planning and building the space for a year and a half, it wasn’t home until nearly 30 CFO team members started working, talking and laughing here. And indeed, in our mission to enhance the quality of life in our region, everything now starts here. On page 3, you’ll find photos of the work that went into creating our new offices, which we will spend much of the fall celebrating with our community.
The rest of this edition expands on the idea of home across the region, highlighting just some of the ways generous and hard-working folks are providing such spaces for others. On pages 4 and 5 you’ll read about the Drew Lewis Foundation’s Blue House Project, which provides accessible housing for Springfield residents, and Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity’s HOPE program, which helps homeowners make their spaces safer and more livable with low-cost repair projects. Both are recent recipients of housing-focused grants.
On page 6, we shift our focus to hometowns with a look at the long-standing work of the Willow Springs Community Foundation to invest in affordable housing projects and redevelop community buildings. These efforts not only add to the community’s housing stock but also boost the local economy and make Willow Springs a more comfortable, enjoyable place to live.
Finally, just before deadline, we were thrilled to announce the CFO as a 2025 recipient of a $250,000 Civic Hub Grant from the Trust for Civic Life. Over the next three years, the CFO will engage with — and connect — rural communities like never before. We’ll work with our affiliate foundations to re-grant a portion of these funds, create civic engagement playbooks and provide convening opportunities for communities across the region — all in the name of making our collective Ozarks home a better place to live.
I’ll close with another quote from another famed author, one who knew exactly what it felt like to start a day in the Ozarks.
“Home is the nicest word there is,” said Laura Ingalls Wilder. After reading this newsletter, I think you’ll agree.
— Winter Kinne is president and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. This letter is featured in the fall 2025 edition of Passion & Purpose.