Care and Share opens larger facility on city's east side

The new Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado facility, at 2605 Preamble Point, on the city's east side, could not have come at a better time.

"Demand for food (to feed needy people) has gone up about 35 percent this year," said Suzanne Lee, director of communication for Care and Share. "Care and Share usually supplies about 7 1/2 million pounds of food each year. Last year, we supplied 11.3 million pounds of food."

The increased demand is a product of the sagging economy and the rise in food prices.

"One in eight people in the U.S. struggle with hunger, and we are not talking just about street people," said Janie Gianotsos, director of marketing for the Food Bank of The Rockies in Denver. "One-half of those are children, and one-half of the hungry have jobs. They are the working poor."

Melissa Marts, director of agency development for Care and Share, added, "Care and Share is seeing a changing demographic of folks seeking supplemental food. These folks now include those with higher incomes and who have had work but been laid off for three months or more. On the eastern plains, we see ranching families and folks who are elderly coming to the food banks."

There are five Food Banks of America in Colorado. Care and Share is one of those banks, and the new facility that opened in January doubled its capacity for gathering, storing and distributing food in southern Colorado.

"Our original space was about 26,000 square feet, and the new warehouse is 50,000 square feet," Lee said. "The biggest feature for us is cooler and freezer space. We now have 9,000 square feet of space to keep produce, milk and frozen foods."

To keep the food bank full of food, they get commodities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and from the network of Feeding America, as well as donations from restaurants including Pizza Hut and Red Lobster. They also count on donations and raise money to buy food.

"We can provide 5 1/2 meals for a dollar donation," Lee said. "Typically, a meal represents pounds of food, like 1.28 pounds of food makes up a meal. We strive to provide a variety of nutritious food. We can't control what is given to us, so we supplement by buying nutritious foods."

Care and Share partners with about 430 member agencies throughout southern Colorado that pick up food from the food bank. Care and Share will make deliveries to soup kitchens and other community pantries where the hungry can get food.

When it comes to getting the job done, Care and Share relies heavily on volunteers.

"Volunteers are the backbone of our agency," Lee said. "Last year, more than 3,000 volunteers logged more than 20,000 hours helping us."

With the new Care and Share warehouse came open land around it in which to plant gardens to help fill the bank with fresh produce. That means, of course, that volunteer gardeners are wanted.

Care and Share also works closely with Pikes Peak Urban Gardens to find neighborhood plots where people on limited incomes can do garden internships and also reap a harvest.

"We are actively reaching out to neighbors in need of food who would like to explore growing their own," Marts said. "We also are coordinating efforts for Pikes Peak Urban Gardens and home gardeners to have opportunities to donate extra produce. Of course, Bear Creek Community Garden continues to grow an entire plot on behalf of Care and Share."