Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado is in its 51st year of contributing to food security across southern Colorado. The organization was started by Sister Dominique Pisciotta from Pueblo, who saw a need in the community and collaborated with eight churches in downtown Colorado Springs to provide picnic baskets to people facing food insecurity. Sister Dominique was delivering food to people using a pickup truck and a rented garage.
“This is really the story of the power of the human spirit and the power of what one person does,” says Care and Share President and CEO Nate Springer.
Care and Share went from those small and meaningful beginnings to an organization that now serves 29 counties across 47,000 square miles to provide food to 278 partner agencies in that territory. Care and Share has three distribution centers including Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Alamosa. They will distribute 22 million pounds of food this year.
Students Lead the Way
Care and Share Food Bank partners with schools all across central and southern Colorado. These programs, known as the Children’s Nutrition Initiative (CNI) partner with 40 different schools to address food insecurity. One of the CNI programs, Send Hunger Packing, helps feed students and their families over the weekend. Students receive bags of food on Fridays, so they are not hungry over the weekend. Another CNI program offers stocked food pantries at schools for middle and high school students who are at risk of hunger.
After leading several focus groups, CNI launched a new program called the Nourishing School Pantry Program Pilot that is student-led and offers students leadership opportunities. After witnessing the success of a student-led pantry at Coronado High School in Colorado Springs, CNI identified other schools where they could use Coronado’s Cougar Cares Corner Market as the model and inspiration to create student-led food pantries at Mitchell High School and Florence Junior/Senior High School.
At Mitchell High School, Junior ROTC and the Student Council are running the program. At Florence Junior/Senior High School, the program is being run by students in the social work program track. The pilot is for two years for both schools.
Future Growth and Opportunities
In the future, Care and Share would like to take the blueprint from the Nourishing School Pantry Program pilot and expand this student-led initiative to other schools across southern Colorado. The goal would be to continue to grow student-led food pantries in both urban and rural schools.
Programs Director Steven Williams says, “I think what’s been really exciting is the conversations that our staff are having with the students. They’re challenging us to think about our work differently. They’re bringing fresh, new ideas.”
The student-led initiatives are already providing fresh perspectives and insights on how Care and Share can continue to address food insecurity in schools. The program provides opportunities for students to get involved with helping others.
Marketing and Communications Director Adam Uhernik adds, “What’s really neat about Care and Share is we are truly helping our neighbors and our neighbors throughout southern Colorado.”
Anyone who would like to get involved and help with food insecurity through Care and Share or any of their partner agencies should check out the opportunities on their website. The holidays are a perfect time to donate your time, talents, or funds to nonprofits that are trying to help families.
Address + Phone: 2605 Preamble Pt, Colorado Springs | 719-528-1247
Website: https://careandshare.org
Facebook + Instagram: @CareAndShareFB