 Hello and welcome to the back story. My name's Tim Waters and as a volunteer for Longmont Public Media, I get the I have the good fortune of hosting this program which gives me a chance to invite people like this together to share stories with the community. Stories that you might have read a little bit about in the newspaper but if you listen to the back story you're going to get a chance to go a little deeper, be a little more knowledgeable about what's going on in the community. So I appreciate I'm going to introduce this crew in just a minute. I appreciate the fact that they've been willing to carve time out of busy schedules to spend an hour with me and with the community this evening. Before we get started, today we're, this is a live program. We're coming to Longmont live on March 27th from the beautiful studios in downtown Longmont, studios of Longmont Public Media. But before we start this program today was another one of those days in this country that we wish never happened but happened all too often. There was a school shooting today in Nashville, Tennessee. Three children and three adults were murdered senselessly again. So to get into the conversation about food security, it's probably as devastating in terms of its implications as other forms of violence that we see in our society. But we do want to extend our condolences to the to the residents of Nashville, Tennessee and all those who are directly affected by another tragedy today. So with that, thank you to this group for being here. Topic tonight is food insecurity, one that's not unfamiliar to many Longmonters given what we've come through in the last few years. But what we, everything I think we've known about food security or insecurity and how we're responding is we're learning and re-learning as we go along and the people who are going to help us with that re-learning are Nancy Herannick who is the former title, a formal title, is are you the director of the round pantry? I'm actually, I took my name tag off, it says crew chief. I'm one of one of the people who keeps things rolling. I basically facilitate. Yeah well Nancy has a, is a career educator, she was a distinguished and recognized and highly valued member of the St. Frank Valley School District for many, many years. And she took that off and put a new hat on and if people aren't familiar with the round pantry, they're going to learn more about it tonight and the great work that's doing that they're doing at the round pantry. Carla Hale, most people are familiar with meals on wheels because they've heard, because it's, it's catchy, right? They've heard about meals on wheels. How much people know about its operations and how to help is a different question. I had the, I had the good fortune recently of being part of the champions event over at the senior center. It was so much fun. You might want to talk about that as we go through this, but it is so impressive what you do, what you do with meals on wheels. And Mark Cowell, director of the hour center, most people know Mark for all kinds of reasons, but tonight I really want, all good, all the good. Okay, okay, try to get a little worried where this whole thing is going. But I want people to hear, learn more tonight about what the hour center does in terms of its role in, in helping families with self-sufficiency and, and closing the gap between what they have and what they need so they can prosper in this community. So, you know what the topic is? We've been, we've been chatting about the kinds of questions we want to, we want to ask. I want to start with just learning more about you, you as individuals and kind of what drew you to your work and filling the gaps around your organizations and what you do that I have not fully explained here as we get into this. Mark, you want to start? We'll just go. Sure. So, I've been at the hour center for almost four years. I took over or came in behind Edwina who'd been there for over 20 years and I was a good eight months ripe into the position when the pandemic hit so. But fortunately I felt like I was well equipped at that situation because prior to that I spent five years as the director of programs at Sister Carmen Community Center which is another family resource center that serves East Boulder County. So, most of my career I've spent working in the non-profit world over 20 years working with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. After 20 years it was time to make a career change. It just felt like I need to do something different, something more. And I just happened to come across the job at Sister Carmen. I was fortunate enough to get that role. Felt in love with the work that they were doing and everything I learned there and one thing led to another that when Edwina started talking retirement you know I started talking to my supervisor a little bit about it and one thing led to another and I received the job and been off and running full speed ever since. Well, good for the hour center and good for Longmont. So, thanks for what you do every day. Carla, tell us about you. Well, I'm actually a Longmont native and my parents still live in the same house that I grew up in so I'm very settled here and I've been with Longmont Meals and Wills for 21 years. I started as the volunteer coordinator and then 11 years ago I took over for executive director and I never thought that's where I would be. I was one of those people even into my adulthood. I really wasn't sure where I belonged and I did find a place and I love their mission and I just really love what the organization does and we have a great team. It's so cool when somebody finds exactly what they're what they're supposed to do. Not having known and then you nail it and you're right where you're supposed to be. Nancy, tell us about you. Well, Tim shared a big part of it. I was a career educator and mostly public education. I was a teacher for 20 years and then I worked in curriculum development and then became an administrator and that being an administrator I think is what put me in touch with the varied needs of all communities. I think I was one of those people with blinders who kind of thought well certain areas had certain needs and our children came from all kinds of places and stages and had significant needs. After I did that I was in university education and actually worked with second career individuals who were also facing needs that kind of surprised me. The student who was living on student loans to pay her tuition because she was getting her master's and the ramen diet just really blew me away. So as I was retiring for about the third time some of our folks in our church became aware that folks would come through the parking lot, stop by in the church office and say something like I got some cereal for my kids but I didn't have any money to buy milk and very often when the emergency funds were depleted and the bit of food we could hold on site it would be the pastor out of the pocket and so some of us started investigating and we were familiar with our center, very familiar with community food share and we asked them for their guidance sat down around a table very similar to this only grounder and they said we're noticing that in that quadrant of the city we don't have good access people don't have bus transportation or whatever and we would encourage you to become a food pantry and I have to honestly say five people sitting around a table probably went because we knew it was going to be a lot of work this at this point 13 years hence we didn't know how much work but we do now know and I know it was sort of the my next calling because it truly has been a blessing for those of us who take part in it and we believe a blessing for our community and so I just moved those skills of sort of organizing and getting the right pieces in the right place and saying let's get after it into a new venue. So I suspect most people in Longmont when you mentioned around pantry will know where we're talking about but just in case some don't talk about you mentioned the church. We are located at Westview Presbyterian Church which consists totally of round buildings and until our last re-roofing it had chocolate brown roof tops and so we were referred to as the chocolate chip church so that that's where the round pantry term came so we're at 15th and hover. Very good Carla, wheels on wheels, base of operations? We are located at the Longmont Senior Center and we are housed there with the goodness of the city so we are able to have our space there and we pay no rent no utilities and so it allows us to do a lot more for the community than what we have in the past. You attribute that to the goodness of the city. I think the city would think about the goodness of wheels on wheels and what you do. But I am so thankful every day. Most people know what an extraordinary senior center we have right it is it is different. Longmont from a lot of other communities but what you do right in and through the senior center is is remarkable as well so most people would know where the hour center is as well Mark but but in case anybody in town doesn't just give us a reminder. Yeah we're located at 220 College Street so we're right across the street from Georgia Boys which actually used to be our old soup kitchen and right next to it where Habitat Youth Vanity is used to be one of our other buildings so there's multiple buildings that we had on the other side of 3rd Avenue and now we house all of our services for our family resource center at that one site. You know with all the narrative about development in town these days it has been fun to see that development occur right and be able to raise the profile and extend the reach of the hour center and in other services in the area. So let's drill down a little bit now on you're all nonprofits. How do you how do you get funded? Where does your money come from if you're a non-profit organization in this town doing this kind of work? How do you stand business? Yes. Well we are completely donor funded and our donations we don't solicit a lot we make the opportunity available. We too are hosted by the church while we're an activity a mission of we're also a separate we're a distributing agency of Community Food Share so we are not a religious organization but the church hosts us and they provide heat and lights and space and all those critical things beyond that the money comes from yes some of our church members and a whole lot of members we have what we call partner churches people that come alongside and recruit volunteers and provide donations sometimes just individuals out of pocket other times out of their mission budgets we receive donations from the community at large and the nation we have a woman from we believe it's a woman from New Jersey who sends us money we're not too sure how or why but knew somebody who heard something and sends money then we also apply for grants as we are able being totally volunteer based sometimes that's a little more difficult but we've had donations or grants rather from local businesses we've had donation or a grant from the state the food pantry assistance grant and then more recently a fairly sizable donation from an individual church so it's it's all what comes in and it's kept us afloat that is to the goodness of not the city so much as the as the resident talk about meals on wheels how are you funded so long on meals on wheels by choice does not get any federal or state funding we do get funding from the city and from the county we also really rely on the grants that we get and the donations from the community so we do katie wiser is our development and communications director and so she's the one that goes out there and raises a lot of the funds for us and she does a really good job at it but a good part of our funding does come from community members and without that we really wouldn't be able to do what we're doing mark yeah we're very similar we have a very diverse funding portfolio if you will but the number one funders of the community it's absolutely amazing what this community does i'm still in this day just humbled in awe with how the community stepped up during the pandemic if you would have told me the sort of revenue that would have come in to support their neighbors and their co-workers and you know their family members it was absolutely amazing so community is very big for us we have wonderful partnerships with both the county and the city from funding uh funding standpoint a lot of grants and foundations and then you know a little bit here and there when it comes to businesses a lot of the churches here in the community the hour center was founded based upon a bunch of churches back in the 80s and most of those churches will still contribute various amounts on a monthly or quarterly basis to the hour center uh you helped with the kind of segue to the next question here which is pre and post pandemic but before we go there is before we leave the topic of funding anything you'd like the community to know about funding where you are you know where you're headed what you see some of the challenges being specifically regarding funding well what i wanted to add is that donations come in various kinds and so one of the biggest donations that we rely upon and i know that you particularly mark do but i'm sure carlo well i know you also do and that's the time the time that community members put into what we do um while we are housed at westview and have many westview members the bulk of our volunteers come from all over the community and so we rely on that and then we also have in kind donations and my example would be today we had four different donations one of which we anticipated a church had done a food drive and they brought that in another lady has become a regular and she cares for her mother and she and her mother decided they wanted to help the community wanted to help people in the community so they place a pickup order at one of the stores local they have the staff at the store loaded into the trunk of the car and it's like we do a driveline so it's a reverse driveline she drove by and we took out of her trunk probably well over a hundred pounds of food and they had two other individuals who happened to come by now we were in the process of preparing for tomorrow's distribution and happened to run short on rice we went through the carts quickly did the weighing and put that right on the table um so where are we covered post-covid in terms of funding it's finding some consistency because like all of us people get busy and they donate and then they maybe don't and then they have a few things that they bring by and then they don't and we're trying to maintain that stream of whatever service we provide so it's knowing that we deeply appreciate whatever is donated but building our capacity to keep that consistent i don't want to leave funding in kind of where we where you are and you know what the future looks like without giving you to a chance to yeah i mean you know volunteers food you know we're for me i always tell people any any size donation is is welcomed and meaningful and one of the things that really helped us during the pandemic was we saw households and individuals that maybe hadn't given in a while it might have been new to us to your point with the consistency all of a sudden they started writing us a ten dollar check every single month or a 25 dollar check and up and that really sustained us through the pandemic however we've also been seeing as the pandemic was kind of in that rear view mirror if you will we've been seeing kind of this leveling back down and i know we'll get to this in a little bit but the needs at least for us have gone past the apex of the the pandemic at this point so you know for us it's we want to continue to encourage and let people know the the the issues and the struggles out there still there they're still real they're increasing and the only way it can do is with everyone's help so um and whether that's five dollars or that's five thousand dollars we welcome it all and we're very thankful for any of it yeah we're part of the part of the the reason for wanting to have this conversation tonight right now is is some of that if you think about curves right thinking we're funding might be going one direction and needs going another and you know where those cross and you start to look at more and more a bigger bigger gap right between resources and needs before we leave though anything you want to share about can i say ditto no i we're in the same boat that everybody else is in and we did see a lot of money come in at that time and and it was great and it was helpful but we're still doing the amount of work that we were doing before so all the support across the board um just like what they both just said is that we are needing more volunteers we always need the food and what the food price is going up right right now too we're even seeing that as an impact on everything not just for the program but for the people that we're serving it's they're it's not the money's not going as far so they really do need even more support than what they were receiving before you know the the the whole world these days i know kind of marks life by pre pandemic and post pandemic right and i think we're still trying to learn our way into what the new normal is going to be in the post pandemic era but characterize your the challenges that that you were taking on pre pandemic um how you responded during the pandemic and now post pandemic characterize what what that challenge or those challenges look like i think people need a deeper understanding of where we come from and where we are and where we're headed you know for me it's hard to respond to pre pandemics they said i had about eight months in the role however you know the one thing that we we did definitely learn is to be very agile um you know as for all of us you know the world got turned upside down we couldn't provide services the way we had traditionally done for years and years and years but we knew that we were built for that moment and we just had to figure out how the heck to do it um and that's that's one of the most prideful things i have with my team is i still remember the day that basically the world shut down i kind of called it and and everyone came into you know all the staff came in and everyone's looking each other like what the heck are we doing here and you know everyone is given a choice i understand you can go home if you need to if you don't feel comfortable and the entire team said no we're staying um so you know we've really learned to be agile and we've really learned to um try to even go further in meeting people with where they're at and coming out of the other side now i think the struggle for us anyways is is just keeping that energy going the burnout we were talking a little bit earlier before we came on that for us we um we were hoping as the pandemic looked like it was subsiding the beginning of last year we thought okay we could take a respite we can all take a collective breath together and then february the gas prices went through the roof and the needs started going right back through the roof at the hour center and the wear and tear on my team on my colleagues you can see it on everyone's faces i mean they're they've gone through a lot and the struggle right now is continuing to find ways to be positive find that energy and keep going so and you know we're looking to now make a turn back to the way we used to do things the family resource center but we're still in that crisis mode at the same time and that's a difficult balance for us right now is to figure out how can we continue to meet the families during crisis but get back to the family development work that we would like to be doing characterize wheels or wheels pre and post so for us um i think that a lot of people when they think of food insecurity they're not thinking of seniors a lot of them think of families they think of children but it's really hidden hunger and um so we found that before we were actually reaching a lot more of those individuals and we our numbers had really been growing we were close to 500 meals a day we make our meals at the senior center and deliver them all with volunteers and then during the pandemic those numbers were rising but then we were losing a lot of the people that we had that as normal individuals that came to us either at the senior center or that we delivered to because we had a lot of people that died many moved into nursing care or they moved in with families because everybody was trying to come up with a new way to make their lives work and what was going to be the best and safest for everyone so now we saw then where our numbers went down a little and now what we've realized is that we need to figure out how to reach those people and there was always the word shut in you know years ago you were shut ins and people don't really use that word that much anymore but we are seeing that people really are and so some of these elderly individuals that no longer are going to church they're not going to the grocery store they do not have any access to the internet or they don't know how to use computers they're not finding help so we're finding that there's a lot of people out there that are in need but how do we all reach them how are we able to get them back into the community and be able to serve them the way that they really should be served and I think that is a real struggle for us right now is where do we reach out for that and so this is a good segue into Community Champions Day that Tim helped with so Mills on Wheels America actually started Community Champions Days years ago and the idea was as they are not a parent company for us Mills on Wheels America they are actually a lobbying organization and their hope was is that we could just get rid of hunger by 2020 senior hunger was not going to be a thing we'll look what happened 2020 so Community Champions is a time for us to get community members together to get the mayor and congress there was a congressman that came all these different individuals to come and show their support to our organization and show the need that that is around here and we also served our three millionth meal event the week before so those are times for us to show that the need really is out there for all of us and it will continue well I would say if the turnout for the Champions event is any indication of the level of both recognition and support that you enjoy among at least leadership not just a long throughout the county you ought to be feel pretty good because it was a remarkable it was really a good day I kept looking at the capacity for the room and hoping we didn't have a fireman there because I knew we would be in trouble there were firemen there there was they weren't looking up at the wall if I could connect a couple things that they said one of our pride moments is that three years ago minus two weeks we did our last indoor shop which is the way we had been set up and then exactly three years ago which would have been two weeks since we opened our first driveline and we never missed a beat in two weeks we just turned the whole operation over we also over the course of the next year doubled where we had been because we were fortunate having started in 2010 to have gone through the recession and started down that hill and so our number were coming down and we were feeling unwarranted pride and oh you know we're we don't have that coming since then we've we've doubled what we were doing before but what I think one thing we're realizing part is that how do you maintain the momentum but it's also sort of the understanding that Carl is talking about the understanding and how can we keep getting the word out that we are here we are here to help you and to get figure out what we can do to help people understand that no COVID didn't go away no situations are not necessarily better for people no there still is a huge need and then work on the misunderstanding that well yeah COVID was over and people went back to work and everything is fine but how can we without being prideful increase that understanding and reach out so that people do understand that food insecurity is a piece of a very large picture talk about this is off script a little bit talk about that bigger picture in in what you're what you're learning right and and how it's serving you and your team as you move forward well I think what I would say in and I'm just a student of it but what I think about is the fact that food insecurity which basically means you don't know where your next meal's coming from you don't know what or how much is going to be on that plate you don't know how you're going to get it that's a piece of it and it's a foundational piece because then if you don't have food you have to make a whole lot of other decisions and when you make those decisions without food you may not literally have the intellectual the emotional capability to make those decisions you also may not have the good health to be able to go out and make other choices and it's all predicated then on do you have a place to live do you have dependability with your housing do you have a job or other occupation that uses your skills and abilities and helps you with that food security and so many other kind of not only ripple effects but that support this it's not just getting some extra food it's how all that wraps together which then I turn and I look to Carla accessing getting information to the people who can use Carla services who can use the two things that we do and then also make use of a coordinated system that can identify and help people understand here's something I could do in this regard here's something I could do in this regard just finding the understanding on our part and then helping the community understand what all is involved are we coordinating in ways that we need to as a community I mean you three in your organizations are doing incredible work but but the reference to a system it's a little different than three organizations and others who are doing great work in the community are we are there opportunities that are missing in terms of coordination again this is this is a little bit different question than I had suggested I might be asking but I think it's an important if you're if we have a little time to go there on what do you see as opportunities without not to miss or we ought to seize in terms of creating more effective systems so I think there is a coordination but I also think just like what Mark said right now everybody is coming out of this pandemic and how are we going to keep our team strong how do we keep everything moving forward some of that does go on the back burner it's not that I mean we can we'll still talk we can still have that relationship but I think sometimes some of that coordination does get put aside a little bit just just because we are all trying to keep everything afloat and it doesn't mean that it's not there and it doesn't mean that it can't get stronger because I think it can and I think we're always looking for ways that we can support one another and you know for us our insecurity our food insecurity is not just about money we have people who have money that get meals from us it's about the fact that they cannot prepare meals for themselves so we have a lot of people who are homebound they're unable to get their groceries they're unable to even stand to be able to put food on the table and if they're not eating then their health is going to deteriorate and if there's even studies that show that Alzheimer's can be a problem with health and hunger and if you are not getting those nutrients that you need things can continually get worse but how do we do that then that we all can get involved and help support those people can we be getting food from you is there something that you know that mark can do but I think there is times that we could do better but I think right now it really is working at what can we do with our agencies to get us back up to where we were before yeah any other reflections here on systems and coordination well when you say systems then I kind of go into another mode because it is an all-encompassing problem if you will but I absolutely agree with Carla literally I met mark probably a month before COVID happened and so we agreed you know we're going to be in touch well we're in touch and it's on the fly hi we've got extra potatoes can you use our extra potatoes okay great goodbye we need to continue that and as Carla said build that but then reach out because there are all kinds of discussions but I'm pretty sure I don't have a clue are happening in this community regarding housing regarding even recreation activities all kinds of things that are being discussed that if somehow we could clone the clock and come up with more time once we we feel like our organizations are a little bit more back to some stability which I loved your your comment about flexibility it's kind of getting back to some stance that we can be flexible reflexive on then to have conversations like you around this table with other business efforts community efforts to at least start the conversation about you know what about those seniors and yes some of those seniors do get food from us and we've maintained uh we always refer but how's that going let's sit down and have a time that we talk about it let's enter the the conversation about housing and other is there a system for that no I don't think there is thing I'd add two things I think I think we would all agree I know some of my other colleagues agree we're still in crisis mode we we want to coordinate we try our best to coordinate but we're dealing with a crisis still so the crisis comes first and then if we can find some bandwidth in there then we try to do the other stuff so it's not a matter of not wanting to or it's just it's your point there's not enough hours in the day to get around to that so you know I think people understanding there's still an underlying crisis going on in our community it may not be as in your faces as the pandemic was but there's still a major crisis happening that we're all trying to deal with and then just take a half a step back in regards to the food insecurity piece a lot of what we're seeing at the our centers is those that are visiting our community market our community cafes or hot meals program it's not always just you know the food insecurity piece but it's an actual strategy rents gone up utilities gone up the cost of gas has gone up groceries have gone up and pay is not keeping up with those increases so what we're seeing a lot of people do is come to the our center get groceries save a hundred or two hundred dollars a week that they can go apply to rents utilities not have to make the decision between I got to put gas in my car to get to work and the only way I can do that is to skip breakfast or lunch or my family's got to skip breakfast so as you were saying earlier it's a deeper it's sometimes people are coming to us not thinking you know I'm skipping a meal it's like I got to be able to afford gas to get to work and that's how they're doing it they're coming to visit us visit you all and they're saving money there that they could divert to the other basic needs shelter utilities etc etc so we're seeing a lot of that as well as people are using it as a strategy just to stay stable so they could divert their household you know revenue to other expenses that they have yeah the uh this is that you're what i'm listening to is kind of the classic example of urgency trumping everything else right there are a bunch of important things that you'd like to be addressing but the need is so urgent that you got to continually be responding and tim i want to put a name on that and a face on that because this is not meant to be an excuse but all those folks that mark has described are people yeah and so while we are looking at our organizations and our volunteer base our staff needing to get some sort of sense of stability it is for the people who come and roll down their window and they're crying because they've had to make those decisions about if i do this then i'll be able to or this just happened to me and people are apologizing and saying i'm sorry i'm here we're glad you're here but how can we help you and it's i just got an eviction notice or i just ran out my lease and i don't know what to do next we have food for you let's let's think about the next step and have you tried this have you tried that but all that we talk about wanting to build understanding and build systems but needing to come back to some at least like i say platform that we can respond from is because of those people and the little girl in the back window who says do you have bananas today yeah we have bananas can i have one please i'm going to come i want to come back to at least a version of this part of the conversation in just a minute because i'm going to ask you about both worst fears and your best hopes and for me in my own experience most people wake up every morning with some combination of both in their heads and in their hearts right we live our lives oftentimes driven by our worst fears which sends us in particular directions and every once in a while we get a chance to pause and say wait a minute what am i really what are my aspirations what are my best hopes and and we might we might strategize or respond differently to a best hope then trying to avoid a worse fear so i want to address both of these and then the best hopes me we'll talk a little bit more about systems but given given what you shared about pre-pandemic coming through the pandemic the sense of urgency right now the potential burnout with staff and i'm certain that like everybody these days who struggles to keep people on the job right especially if they have other options what what should we all know about your worst fears about food insecurity and then the all of the related the complexity that you've just laid out it's not just this was going to be a conversation about food insecurity this is a conversation about a way more complex set of conditions food being part of it what are those worst fears we should know what they are and then we'll pivot to best hopes because because our worst fears could occur right and we'd like not for that not to happen so we need to focus on some other options as well are there worst fears that you want to share oh yeah we'll start that's all you I think we're up at night sometimes thinking about those worst fears all the time um so for longot meals on wheels we do not have a waiting list we have never had one we have never had to put somebody on a waiting list but there are meals on wheels programs across the country that do and they do not have enough funding they do not have enough help to be able to put food on the table and that is a fear of mine I don't ever want that to happen I don't ever want it to be where we cannot feed who needs to be fed and I think that's scary for all of us is that when you have that person show up and maybe you don't have a food of any food available or you don't have the funding to be able to give them the meals that they get and so for meals on wheels we do charge on the sliding scale but over a third of our people do not pay anything and now that snap has gone back to pre pandemic and people are not getting the money that they were getting snap is supplemental assistance program there you go off guard there for a minute yep you put me on the spot when you're in when you're inside the house those acronyms you know everybody knows you're outside that's like that well as educators we can relate to that we need to go back a step and in describing this I've seen it frequently in the press and the reality is it's what we used to refer to as food stamps correct hasn't been called that for a long time but it's supplemental nutrition assistance program exactly federal benefit yeah and now that has happened we're now finding that there's even more individuals that are seniors that are going I can't afford my medication how am I going to stay in my house what am I going to do and so for us we do deliver Monday through Friday but we also can do um frozen meals if people need those meals and we will not turn people away if they cannot afford meals so it does not matter whether or not they have money we just want to make sure we can get everybody fed but one of my biggest worries is that there's going to come a time that we are going to have to really make some really hard decisions and so but for now we haven't had to do that so I think that is the positive for us is that we do live in a community that really supports us and we do not get federal funding and there's some programs that do and now they're struggling with their federal funding and they're not getting their community to step up and so we don't have to worry about that because our community already has yeah we're I think the same thing one of my biggest fears is where is the end to this next you know to the point that we talked about earlier at the hour center worse the needs have now eclipsed the highest point of the pandemic and I'm not seeing any signs that that trend is changing every day I talk to my team like where are we at who came in today what's happening and there's zero indications that this is going to slow down in the meantime you know we've been able to connect people through federal dollars through the county for e-wraps or emergency rental assistance program where we could help them get money for their rent to stay house well that's evaporated and now people are falling off the cliff in in our community market our food pantry we spent $30,000 last year between October and December purchasing food to make sure we had enough in our pantry we've never done that before I just met with my food services director today before coming to the show and he's about ready to order another $30,000 worth of food we're looking at you know between a hundred and $150,000 that we need to fundraise just to keep up with the current need now if it doesn't increase any more this year so you know part of my fear is the same thing is you know we've been very fortunate because of the community and a lot of other great supporters and people who care we we were able to keep up with the need in the pandemic I'm not feeling as optimistic I'm not feeling pessimistic but I don't feel as optimistic right now because just because the needs have just moonshot over the pandemic for us and we're doing things we've never had to do before and can we sustain that I don't know you know I don't know how many how many members of the community I think people on a casual level would acknowledge things are still a challenge post pandemic but the depth of knowledge and understanding I think doesn't exist this is really helpful well I wanted to go to Carla's answer and say yes ditto actually to Mark also my middle of the night two worries are first volunteers and I have some sitting in the audience thank you volunteers will they show up because there's a very real thing called volunteer fatigue yeah and it can be simply I've done this job now for three years or 13 years or 20 some years for you all there's just a volunteer fatigue that am I making a difference I feel like I'm you know Sisyphus and the rock only I'm rolling a shopping cart and it's getting emptier and emptier so there's the volunteer piece but then the other piece is exactly what Mark described we've always prided ourselves that in 13 years no one has ever walked away without food and we're very much a pop-up operation and the food comes in from community food share and we distribute and there's a finite end and we've always managed to have some more at the end of that that period but we are doing much more purchasing well the bulk comes from food share food share has their own realities in terms of donor monies either corporate in-kind donations or funds they also have the whole supply chain and shipping issues and now and so we have been purchasing as Mark described but we're facing the same thing placing an order for food that didn't come in today because it didn't show up on order so are we going to be able to satisfy needs from for the folks that come to our doors or will we not have the food but as Carla said the hope then or the reality that builds the hope is volunteers do show up and they continue to show up and new volunteers show up and also that donors show up like I described before they come in with their trunks open and their shopping cart shopping bags and provide us literally today just what we needed to to keep going but yeah if anybody wants to chat in the middle of the night you got three people here who are probably up I'm going to use that as a just as a segue to invite if anybody in the audience that people know in the audience if anybody wants to participate in this by asking a question they have a chance to do that so if there's anybody out there who wants to ask a question I can't see you where you're sitting now if you came right over there no pressure but if I see somebody show up over there we'll give them a chance to ask and as volunteers that's up to them right nobody's up so let's pivot now you've you began to touch a little bit on use the word hope because we also walk around with those best hopes right and and and if we are clear on them and and build strategies to achieve them the prospect of realizing them are at hand so let's be as clear on our best hopes and then I'm going to follow up with a question about strategy but what are your best hopes moving forward with all of the challenges we've that you're dealing with and you're sharing with us tonight the crisis ends tomorrow you know I I think I just I reflect back on the pandemic because I was kind of in the same mode at the beginning it was like how are we going to do this you know our our volunteers going to stick in there we're going to have the funding that we need to support the community I mean all these same questions were going through my head back in March of 2020 and we came through it the community stepped up the volunteers stepped up my staff were amazing and you know in the end I felt like it was very successful if you can consider you know a success in the pandemic so you know for me my hope is is that you know we we did it once before when I thought the odds were against us and stacked against us we've done it why not do it again and even though I feel you know some animosity and some anxiety going into this at the same time I know this is an amazing community they've stepped up before our volunteers are incredible our staff just continue to do what's right and to to give all of themselves back to the community and and I know if all that falls into place it'll all be okay in the end so I just I I lean back on everyone else because I know I can't do it I got I just surround myself with great people and I do a great job it's true I think that's what we all do is that you find these great teams you get some great volunteers and we really rely on them every single day just like you guys do but we have 31 different routes that go out so we have people who are taking meals every day and then we also have the people who help in the kitchen and so we couldn't do it without them and I know we say that all the time but it's the truth it's something that we really rely on as a non-profit organization and I think my hopes is that we can continue to do what we've been doing for all these years and we can continue to let people know of the resources that are out there because we have a lot of resources in this community and I don't want people to think that they shouldn't go for them because they're afraid that they're taking from somebody else because we hear that a lot I'm taking from somebody else well you should not be afraid of taking from somebody else if you need those services they're there for you and we're there to help you get what you need and I just hope that more people understand that well if there's no message that penetrates the community other than that one tonight let's hope that one does there's no reason to be reticent or bashful or shy about coming forward well I'm too old to remember this movie but world peace and pony that's my hope and in this regard it would be that we imagine a world where people are respected number one and people are supported and I think we've heard lots of stories about how this community does support but that that expands and support looks like living in a home that you can afford paying for your medications and knowing that there are places you can go when some of that slides particularly when we were inside we would have we now do a driveline outside which is why I refer to inside outside but we would have folks who would come in and say hi it's me again hi you we're like cheers we don't forget your name yeah this happened with my job and I need to pay for the big delivery of medications so I'm here and we welcomed him and we didn't see him right so that we would have that that whole system that comes together and supports people across whatever need but also that our community members our volunteers and I'm going to pick on someone who literally is in the audience who came to me one day and said can I talk to you I'm like sure what do we need to talk about so I want to thank you I want to thank you for letting me volunteer here I'm like oh I didn't know I signed off on it but you can still keep coming and it what and the the answer was thank you for letting me come and do what I know I'm supposed to do and so people in the community understand that I believe what we're supposed to do is honor respect and support each other in whatever way that is from donating to supporting our center from supporting city council as they work on things that we come together and together do what we're supposed to do so I want to come back first of all that's all inspirational to listen to all three of you I want to come back to the to kind of connect the question about systems and best hopes and strategy is there anything you want the community to hear city council to hear churches to hear service clubs to hear about what how they could lean in how they could help with strategy or being part of a system that would help you implement a strategy to realize those best hopes and I know this is this is a little bit about a left field kind of a question but I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity for people to hear whatever take you might have on how could other organizations like the city or service clubs help with elevating you know to strategy to realize those best hopes I think for one is it's never nobody's too young to learn this nobody is too young to learn to volunteer or to give to an organization no matter what it is one of my favorite stories was we had a girl her dad it was a volunteer for us and she came in one day after we had set out our mailing for for funding and she gave me a penny so she gave me a penny and she was so excited that she made this donation so I wrote a nice little handwritten note you know send it back to her and now as an adult she donates to us all the time I don't know my handwritten note had anything to do with it but she learned at a young age how important it was to get back to the community that she lived in whether it was with volunteering whether it was giving her time in some other way she would make little centerpieces for the tables and do different things and I think that's the thing that I would like people to know is there's so much more to give to us than just even volunteering weekly or giving and funding we all have little projects that you can do to really support us and to teach your children that this is a really good direction to go in their life and that volunteering even give us back to you you feel so good about it once you have done it and I think just everybody in the community knowing that can be very supportive yeah kind of along those same lines you know I do believe you know a lot of people do want to help but they don't know how and maybe they don't know what the the crisis is out there so having you know a forum like this to be able to get the word out you know inviting I know any one of the three of us if we're invited to go talk to a business a social club you know a service club we'd be there in a heartbeat I know every time that I speak with whether it's an individual or a group by the end they're going oh my gosh I had no idea it was that bad I knew something but I didn't know it was that bad and then that kind of starts to activate people and then then the next thing comes is like well then how do I help and then that's when it kind of opens the door for us to say you know we have one time ongoing volunteering opportunities you could do a food drive here's where our shelves are bare you know financial assistance can go to rent assistance etc so I think you know just helping us get the word out and if people are comfortable want to speak up great if you're not give one of us a call we'd be happy to step in and do that you know in front of anyone just to help make the awareness out there of what the issues are so then when they're ready to help they know where they can plug in or at least know who to ask and find out how can I plug in with the round pantry or meals on wheels for the hour center yeah and I just wrap it up and say I know we all have websites that you can access so if you're directly ready to volunteer or donate food or funds you can do that inviting someone to come speak to you but then either in a corporate in a group or individually just studying and finding out more there's lots of things online and in print media that you can just read and say what is what is going on here and then making connections maybe not with us but with others who have similar concerns connecting with your elected officials we have great congress people who come and visit us and who are working in their own stead on support for food assistance and other kinds of programs rent assistance that you can you can have an impact just by understanding and helping others understand and then supporting efforts whether it's these efforts or other efforts to support the people in our community yeah great so I shared with you in our preparations for tonight that was most important to me is that I asked questions you want to answer anything I haven't asked what are any questions you hoped I was going to ask that I haven't that you want to answer right now it's a really good question that's all right I'm not trying I don't want to put you on the spot I just don't want to wrap this up with without missing and miss an opportunity for you to say no no you didn't ask me the question I really wanted to answer listen what you two what you three do and your staff do every day is such a blessing to the community we are I'm grateful I can tell you there are thousands of people in this community who are who are grateful and appreciate what you do every day the fact that you would take you know an hour out of your busy schedules to spend it with me tonight to tell this story but I hope I hope what we do is amplify right we use this to amplify the message and and people get the opportunities to step up right now needed more than ever right if we thought pandemic came and went and the needs gone we need to all think again so we have a studio audience I'm certain that they would like to join me in thanking you for being here and let's do one more thank you for asking well it's it's it's it's fun for me to have a chance to be part of these stories and share them with the community so god bless you for what you do Longmonters that is the backstory on food food insecurity but a much bigger story in Longmont what we've learned and where we're headed and I think how you can help