By Kim Whisenhunt, Operations Manager

Have you heard the buzz about eating healthier, especially fresh fruit and vegetables? Sounds simple, but have you noticed the prices? There’s a high price in both time and money! Tri-Lakes Cares is keen to provide healthy food options for our clients. We are fortunate to be able to shop at Care and Share for produce to stock our Help Yourself Market shelves. However, because there are limits on how much we can obtain, the Program Managers have been seeking ways to bring in more fresh produce. Clients have been so grateful when local gardeners shared their extra harvests with us. But is there a way that TLC could be part of the answer to the need for more fresh foods?

An opportunity presented itself last summer when Next Step Ministries contacted us, asking if TLC had a project their group of students could work on. We posed the idea of constructing a garden space on the south wall of our building. So Next Step brought groups of students, along with some experienced construction supervisors, to build garden bins attached to the wall and on the ground. So the first stage of the garden project was finished!

Early in 2018 the garden planning started. We are so grateful for the community groups and volunteers who have come forward to support this project! Monument Community Presbyterian Church offered to help with manpower, including Sherry, a master gardener who is providing expertise and direction. Vic, a new TLC volunteer, jumped in early on to help with garden prep and maintenance. A Palmer Ridge student, Jaydes, took on starting the plants from seed as a school project. When it was time to fill the garden boxes,McCord’s Garden Center donated the products to amend the soil. Cindy, a Palmer Lake resident, donated a composter so TLC, using leftover fruit and vegetables from the pantry, can produce good, rich compost.

The final piece was completed by Isaac, an Eagle Scout, who, along with 21 other volunteers, built a gated fence to protect the garden.

Once the seedlings were planted, including herbs donated by Cindi, volunteers adopted a regular watering and tending schedule. All the efforts are producing results! We look forward to offering green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, a variety of herbs, and more to our clients each week. We thank everyone who has helped to bring the resources together to make this garden a reality!

By Kim Whisenhunt, Operations Manager

Part 1 of 3-part series

We are beginning a short series of posts, looking at who it is we serve and trying to answer the question “Who is the typical Tri-Lakes Cares client?”  When someone says “poor” or “living in poverty”, what do you see in your mind’s eye? The unkempt person standing with a sign on the street corner? The unemployed woman hanging out at the park?

But, it may not be who you think it is or what you think poverty should look like. It is tempting to think that anyone who works should not be classified as poor, however poverty is not really about the lack of work. Rather, it is about the lack of compensation to be stable in living. Tracy McMillan said it very clearly that “the qualification for being poor is not race or education, but an insurmountable gap between income and cost of living” (What do we think poverty looks like? 2017).

Tri-Lakes Cares serves five zip codes:  80132 (Monument); 80133 (Palmer Lake); 80908 (portion of Black Forest); 80921 (northern Colorado Springs); and, 80840 (the U.S. Air Force Academy). To understand why we serve these areas and why we have pockets of poverty here, one must understand the cost related to residing in these areas. For example, according to FactFinder.gov in 80132 the average, or mean income, is $138,637. The population of Monument is close to 19,700 and 10% – or close to 2,000 individuals – live at or below the Federal Poverty Level, or FPL. The FPL is the economic indicator the U.S. government uses to determine who is eligible for federal subsidies and aid. It is important to note that the FPL is the same whether or not you live in a rural farm town or in Manhattan; it does not take into consideration the cost of living in different areas.

Monument used to be a sleepy highway town. I know this because I have been a resident for over 40 years and the changes are notable. The cost of housing has skyrocketed with rent not far behind. The average mortgage in Monument is $2,100 and the average rent is $1,500. For a better perspective, the average family of four that we may serve is earning less than $25,000 per year, which is about $2,100 per month gross income (the same amount as the average mortgage). If you then add on the cost of running a household – utilities, groceries, childcare and so on – one can see the struggle to make ends meet. Many of our families living at poverty level have been Monument residents for decades and have been our clients for several years, struggling to make ends meet in the changing economic picture of our local community.

Interestingly enough, many families in this area make much more income than those in poverty, but as you can see from above, the cost to live here can be a challenge for many. All it can take is one job loss and a family can be catapulted into a difficult financial situation.

Middle class families are sometimes be just one paycheck or job loss away. They will come to us having lost a high paying position due to layoffs and cannot find new employment immediately. They have a $2,000 mortgage, lose their job, use up all of their savings, and then suddenly they become our new client. If they sell their home, pay off outstanding bills and find a lower paying job, they still have to come up with the deposit for a rental and then pay in rent almost the same amount they paid in mortgage, no longer building up equity. Getting assistance from Tri-Lakes Cares to stay in their home is often the little nudge they need to get back on their feet. Feeding a family can also cost quite a bit and that is another way we help. Through our food pantry, the typical family saves about $200 a month in food and sundries and are able to use those savings to help pay other household bills.

In addition to families seeking help, many of our clients are senior citizens on fixed incomes living on their social security benefits. Some regular clients are veterans, also surviving on retirement and other benefits. Like our families, they have been residents of Monument for decades and struggle to live in an area with an increasing cost of living.

I hope that this will encourage you not to make a fast judgement on what someone in poverty should look like or how they should live. A Tri-Lakes Cares client could be one of your neighbors, your friends, your children’s teachers, your co-worker, or your pastor. Anyone can run into an unfortunate series of events that brings them to our door and we are help to help without judgement.

If you know of someone who is struggling (or you, yourself, need help), we encourage you to refer them to us. Tri-Lakes Cares is open Mondays and Thursdays in the afternoon from 12 to 3p.m. and again in the evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. for those that work in the daytime.

Watch for our next blog posting which will talk about the differences in generational and situational poverty and how you can’t go by first impressions.

It is estimated, that in 2016, 1 in 8 Americans were food insecure, which is equal to 42 million Americans including 13 million children.

What is “food insecurity”? The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines it as a “lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, health life.” In layman’s terms – it means you don’t know where your next meal may be coming from due to financial reasons or living with a condition which doesn’t allow you to get to a store or market.

Children and senior citizens are some of the most vulnerable to food insecurity. To learn more about how seniors are impacted by food insecurity, visit The National Council for Aging Care’s article: The Facts Behind Senior Hunger.

Tri-Lakes Cares, with the help of our community partners, donors, and supporters, works to alleviate food insecurity in our community through all of our pantry programs.

Thank you to all for your support!