Our Story

The Hampshire Terrace apartment complex, near 20th Street and Connecticut Avenue, was built by the Royal Heights United Methodist Church in Joplin in the early 1970s as a way to provide housing to low-income residents. This was the first chapter of Loving Grace before it transformed into what it is today.

Loving Grace was created as an outreach ministry of the Royal Heights Church. By the time the complex was destroyed in the 2011 tornado, it was no longer directly owned and operated by the church itself but rather by a nonprofit board made up of church members.

Three years after the 2011 tornado, Loving Grace was established at 1414 Euclid Avenue for women ages 18 to 24 who found themselves houseless after being abandoned by their families. The original Loving Grace Home housed eight residents but had no room for infant services. 

The need of young women in crisis often includes pregnancy or a small child, which is why Loving Grace decided to expand its outreach into two different homes, Doris House and Oglesby House. Oglesby House serves as a transitional home for vulnerable, houseless young women ages 18-24; while Doris House serves women ages 18-24 who are houseless, pregnant, beginning motherhood or regaining custody of their child.

You can learn more about our program here.

Single Application
(Oglesby House Application)

Pregnant or With Child Application
(Doris House Application)