COLORADO SPRINGS — The Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado has partnered up with The Colorado Springs and Pueblo Police departments to help distribute more food to people in need.
The “First Responders Emergency Food Bag” program provides law enforcement officers with bags full of food so that officers can give them to people or families they meet during their shift.
Care and Share gave law enforcement 500 bags of food. The bags contain healthy and non-perishable foods such as rice, beans, and canned goods.
President and CEO of The Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, Nate Springer said law enforcement often meets people every day who would benefit from the food bags.
“So many of our women and men in blue will meet a family or someone who needs help and they'll just go into their own pocket and help that person because that's the type of people that serve in our emergency services,” said Springer.
The First Responders Emergency Food Bag will make it so officers won’t have to dig into their own pockets to help. Instead, they will be able to grab a bag full of food and share it with the people they meet who need it.
"I'm just excited that when our policemen and women see a situation out across our communities, they've got food bags that they can make a difference. They can also refer someone to us later, but they've got food right now, to help people all across our community, and that's a neat thing to be behind,” said Springer.
Springer said because of high grocery prices, food insecurity is a big problem in Southern Colorado.
“Things are just more expensive. I used to say that things were 10% more expensive this year than they were last year, but those food prices have just really remained high and we've just sustained. That was kind of the first thing that led to some increased food insecurity,” said Springer.
Over the past fiscal year Care and Share has provided twenty-three million pounds of food to Southern Colorado. Springer hopes with law enforcement's help, they will be able to reach even more people.
“If you think about just how many interactions every day they (law enforcement) have with people and so by arming them, I just think we're really spreading our food out. We're able to give to people at Care and Share in a really smart and unique way and we are going to reach more and help more people,” said Springer.
The First Responders Emergency Food Bag program was funded by Schmidt Construction Company and The Rotary Club Of Pueblo.
The Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado covers just under a 50,000-square-mile service area.
“Start in Monument, go all the way to the border of New Mexico, and then everything between Utah and Kansas is Care and Share service area,” said Springer.
They have three distribution centers, one in Colorado Springs, one in Pueblo, and one in Alamosa. Care and Share also have 300 partner agencies in 29 counties that they distribute food to. To find a nearby food bank visit Care and Share website.
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