In her home in Ozark, Jennifer Newby is raising her four children almost single-handedly because her husband is stationed overseas.
“I didn’t really have another adult to share responsibilities with, except when people came to visit or offered to help. But it’s not like I had a spouse living in the house with me,” she said.
Newby cares for a 6-year-old, a 4-year-old, a 2-year-old and a 2-month-old and sometimes struggles, especially when it comes to keeping her house clean. Fortunately, a friend from church recognized Newby’s efforts and suggested her as a recipient of a new organization in Springfield, Hot Mess Express.
On Friday, five women from the Springfield-based Hot Mess Express group visited Newby’s home for about three hours, tidying, cleaning and helping her re-establish positive habits for the future. At the end of their visit, Newby’s bathroom, kitchen, living room and downstairs common room looked like completely different spaces.
Hot Mess Express, a national nonprofit with local chapters across the country founded in 2023, empowers women without bias through “cleaning, organizing, and starting over.”
Local Hot Mess Express group members work directly with the women in their communities. Women can nominate themselves as someone in need of cleaning services or be nominated by others. If selected, the woman’s home is visited by group members who volunteer several hours to tidy, clean and organize. These visits are called “missions” and are free.
Getting started in Springfield
Daphne Boggs, a fourth-year pharmacy student at UMKC, founded the Springfield Hot Mess Express branch in April after learning about the organization on TikTok.
“I just have a heart for helping people, obviously through my work in healthcare,” Boggs said. “I’m not a mother, I don’t have kids … but I love women empowering women and movements like that. It takes a village to raise kids and I’m not a mother and I know that, so of course I want to do whatever I can do to help those people.”
Shortly after seeing the first TikTok video about the organization, Boggs applied to be a member through the Hot Mess Express website. After her application was approved, Boggs completed Hot Mess Express training and created an official Facebook group for members. Hoping to promote the new chapter, Boggs made a post about it in the “Welcome To Springfield” Facebook group. To her surprise, the post was well received. As of Monday, the “Hot Mess Express Missouri Springfield” group had 795 members.
However, Boggs said there are only about 10 to 15 members who regularly engage in their contributions and participate in missions.
Since the chapter’s formation in April, Boggs and her team have conducted four missions, the fourth of which took place last week at Newby’s home. Boggs said the chapter currently conducts one mission per month, with each mission lasting no longer than three hours.
Missions begin with creating a “game plan,” Boggs said. Then members divide up tasks and get to work.
“I often hear, ‘I don’t like cleaning, but I clean someone else’s house,’ and that’s just me,” Boggs says with a laugh. “My house isn’t clean, but I just like helping other people, so I don’t mind cleaning someone else’s house.”
Newby said she was touched when she learned she had been nominated for the Hot Mess Express donation.
“It was a very practical and tangible way to meet a need,” Newby told the News-Leader.
Get involved as a volunteer
To get involved in the Springfield chapter, women should first join the Hot Mess Express Missouri Springfield Facebook group, where Boggs posts important information for members. Once accepted into the Facebook group, women should fill out the volunteer form, which is accessible under the “Featured” tab in the group. After submitting the form, no further steps are required; women can then begin volunteering.
Each month, Boggs hosts a Facebook Live in the Facebook group to review new nominations and discuss which woman they will help that month. Once a mission is selected, a private Facebook event page is created that only Hot Mess Express volunteers can access and includes more details about the mission, including the date, time and address.
While Hot Mess Express is for women only, Boggs said the chapter is inclusive and open to gender non-conforming people.
If you can’t find time to volunteer, the Springfield location has an Amazon wish list of tools for future outreaches, such as rubber gloves, pet hair removal brushes, stain and odor removers, paper towels, dish soap, storage containers and trash bags, to name a few. The wish list is available online at amzn.to/3WXFeF0. Donations can also be made to individual locations on the Hot Mess Express website at hotmessexpress.co/support-us.
How do you nominate a woman in the community?
To submit a nomination for themselves or another woman in the community, people should join the Hot Mess Express Missouri Springfield Facebook group. Once people are accepted into the group, they will find the nomination form under the featured tab. The nomination waiver must also be submitted, this can also be found under the featured tab.
More: Celebrating Bookstore Romance Day? Check out Republic’s new romance boutique Bedpost
The nomination form includes basic informational questions, such as the nominee’s name and contact information, as well as additional details, such as why a woman is being nominated and what tasks the chapter can help with, such as laundry, dishes, cleaning up messes, gardening and meal prep. This helps Boggs and her team learn more about a nominee and how they can better help her.
If selected, the candidate will be contacted by the chapter to schedule a tour. Boggs said a tour serves as an opportunity for volunteer members to prepare for the upcoming mission.
According to Daphne, the chapter has received 32 nominations since April (as of August 8).
Greta Cross is the Springfield News-Leader’s trending reporter. She has more than five years of journalism experience covering everything from the history of the Ozarks to the LGBTQIA+ community in Springfield. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Have a story idea? Email her at [email protected].
