Due to a Larimer County rule that prohibits venues, such as the YMCA of the Rockies Estes Park Center, from holding more than three special events on a property in a calendar year, Crossroads Ministry of Estes Park had to pivot and find a new location for its annual fundraiser this past Sunday night after initially booking the benefit at the Y.
Scott Applegate, CEO and president of the Bank of Estes Park, saved the day by offering the bank’s lobby for the occasion.
With yards and yards of tulle for draping and strings of magical fairy lights dressing the lobby, plus a dozen round party tables covered in white linens and decorated with red roses, the bank was transformed into a fashionable party space.
Brian Schaffer, the executive director of Crossroads, told the crowd of nearly 100 attendees that Crossroads, like many nonprofits, experienced a shortfall this year. Schaffer said that with uncertainty in the economy, many people have cautiously tightened their belts, but others have done so out of necessity because they are dealing with hunger.
While the year has been challenging, the past month has been especially concerning, with many Estes Park residents who work in Rocky Mountain National Park or the U.S. Forest Service furloughed, and now Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are set to expire on Saturday.
Currently, 600,000 Coloradoans receive monthly SNAP benefits, including 34,000 in Larimer County, which accounts for approximately 10% of the population. In the Estes Valley, this translates to about 1,100 people.
With both a silent and live auction, Sunday night’s crowd pulled out checkbooks and ponied up to offer financial support to the private, non-profit Christian social service agency that represents 15 local churches and eight affiliated service providers in the Estes Valley. Services range from food assistance to financial help, counseling, coordination of neighbor-to-neighbor aid, and meals-on-wheels.
Over the past year, Crossroads has:
- supported 454 families, comprising 1,083 unduplicated individuals, including 715 adults and 368 children
- helped 136 individuals with auto repairs
- provided 29 families with over $47,000 in assistance through the Estes Valley Fire Relief Fund
- conducted eight Medicare 101 presentations, two wellness fairs, and 71 individual counseling sessions through the State Health Insurance Assistance Program in partnership with UCHealth’s Aspen Club
- distributed 163 food boxes through the Thanksgiving Blessing event
- assisted families with 192 rent and mortgage payments totaling $231,296 worth of direct help in addition to helping with 104 gas, water, and electric bills totaling $46,578
- filled student backpacks with more than 14,000 nutritional snack items throughout the school year
- served an additional 108 new families
Documentary film spotlights food pantry
During Sunday night’s fundraiser, Crossroads premiered a new video, “Crossroads Feeds the Community,” produced by Emmy Award-winning journalist Wendy Rigby and Schaffer about Crossroads’ community food pantry, the Market.
The film features Laura Kate Webermeier Bishop, who, along with her mother, Katie Webermeier, and husband Bill Bishop, runs Country Market. The local hometown grocery store provides pallets of food to the Market at Crossroads.
The film also acknowledges the in-kind support of the local Safeway grocery store and the Starbucks coffee shop, which provide food products for the food pantry. The Market stocks a wide range of canned and bagged food items, breads, snacks, pasta, rice, beans, cereals, vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, desserts, and non-food items, including toilet paper, hygiene products, and pet foods.
In addition to Webermeier Bishop, the film also features Nancy Almond, who volunteers with Crossroad’s food pantry.
Food insecurity is a serious problem for many individuals in Colorado, and food pantries, such as Crossroads, are struggling to meet the increasing needs as more people, many of whom are seeking help for the first time, turn to them for assistance.
Food banks that supply local food pantries are struggling to keep up with community demands, particularly for protein-rich foods such as meat, eggs, and dairy, due to cuts in federal aid to food banks from programs like The Emergency Food Assistance Program, often referred to as TEFAP, a federal program that provides food to low-income households.
In a recent interview with the Estes Valley Voice, Amy Pezzani, CEO of the Food Bank for Larimer County, stated that they had lost $250,000 in federal funding, which had allowed the agency to purchase fresh produce from local farms. The county’s food bank also lost funding from SNAP, which provided a nutrition educator and outreach staff, in addition to a loss of funding through a commodity program.
New logo and name – Crossroads Assistance Ministry
This week, Crossroads also unveiled its new name, now Crossroads Assistance Ministry, along with a new logo to reflect the organization’s expanded services, which include personal support, housing assistance, and food assistance.
To support the work of Crossroads, donations can be made online through the Colorado Gives Foundation or mailed to Crossroads Ministry of Estes Park, 1753 Wildfire Road, Estes Park, Colorado, 80517.
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