Colorado Springs area getting nearly $11 million in extra funding to help agencies meet increased need from COVID-19 pandemic
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Even under normal conditions, many social service agencies and nonprofit organizations have limited funding to help citizens in need, and the ongoing pandemic has only left more people in need.
But those service providers are getting some relief.
El Paso County is allocating nearly $9 million in funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, to 50 agencies.
And on Tuesday, the Empty Stocking Fund -- an annual charity campaign -- set a record by receiving $1.7 million in donations between Thanksgiving and late January; that money will be allocated to 20 agencies in El Paso and Teller counties.
El Paso County commissioners received an update on the ARPA allocations Tuesday.
"This money will serve those who are hardest-hit by the pandemic," said Commissioner Cami Bremer. "We had 70 organizations apply, and we couldn't fund every organization. Those who received funding are the most ready to go and have the best plans for how to spend the money to help people the quickest."
The largest allocation ($2.6 million) goes to mental health programs to help citizens who are emotionally stressed by the pandemic.
Valerie Laster said that she went to the National Alliance on Mental Illness -- located in east Colorado Springs -- because of depression during the pandemic.
"I had COVID and my son had it, too," she said. "The one day I didn't wear a mask when I went to the gym was when I caught it. With all the shutdowns and isolation, it worsened the depression I'd already experienced in the past. But I learned from it."
NAMA associate executive director Kirk Woundy said that his agency is one of the funding recipients, and he's thankful for it.
"Almost everyone is along the spectrum of feeling depressed or anxious, out of sorts in some way," he said. "People have been isolated from loved ones or lost loved ones. We're helping more people, but it makes me wonder how many people who need help are reluctant to seek it. Is it getting better? That's hard to answer."
The second-largest allocation ($2.4 million) will benefit children's programs to improve emotional and physical health, and create educational opportunities.
Programs to reduce hunger will receive $1.2 million, and efforts to reduce homelessness and improve housing conditions will get $930,000.
The county also is allocating $1.8 million to a variety of community aid programs.
Some of the same agencies will benefit from the Empty Stocking Fund donations because they are considered to be at the forefront of helping people in need.
Among them: Care and Share Food Bank, which will receive a combined $800,000 from both sources -- more than a fourth of the agency's annual food budget.
"We distributed 19 million pounds of food in 2020 and 25 million last year," said CEO Shannon Coker. "Getting food costs us more and supply chain issues make it harder to get. So many of our neighbors had job changes, reduction on hours or had to stay home and that has a big impact on food needs."
Fund organizers said that fewer people donated in the recent campaign but those donors gave more than they normally do.
The fund also helps citizens who rely on a variety of needs such as bus passes, food, school supplies, clothes, utilities and rent assistance, medical prescriptions, counseling sessions and transportation for seniors, and veterans’ programs.
