The Pantry has found a Home
And it is time to celebrate!
Thanks to your generosity we have reached the fundraising goal!
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THE FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
Ouray County Food Pantry has a 14-year history. The first pantry was begun in 2007 at the Assembly of God Church in Ouray. In 2009 it was moved to Ridgway under the auspices of the Ridgway Community Church. In 2013, under its own 501c3, the pantry was reopened as a non-profit and non-denominational food pantry. Thanks to dedicated volunteers, strong leadership and a highly supportive community it has been serving county residents in need ever since.
Covid-19 has been a challenge for everyone, but
Ouray County Food Pantry continues to serve!
During the pandemic, the number of households served has increased by about 22%, but the number of people served has increased almost 53%. While we may hope otherwise, we know there will always be a need for our services in the county. Over the years of increasing rent and fewer rental options, it has become apparent that if we are to assure access to a food pantry into the future, we need to have a permanent home. It is exciting to see that coming to fruition with the purchase of the building at 602 N. Cora Street in Ridgway. The building, the lot and its central location will allow us to meet the needs of both, clients and volunteers, with flexibility for expansion to take care of a growing population and increased services.
Ouray County Food Pantry has a 14-year history. The first pantry was begun in 2007 at the Assembly of God Church in Ouray. In 2009 it was moved to Ridgway under the auspices of the Ridgway Community Church. In 2013, under its own 501c3, the pantry was reopened as a non-profit and non-denominational food pantry. Thanks to dedicated volunteers, strong leadership and a highly supportive community it has been serving county residents in need ever since.
Covid-19 has been a challenge for everyone, but
Ouray County Food Pantry continues to serve!
During the pandemic, the number of households served has increased by about 22%, but the number of people served has increased almost 53%. While we may hope otherwise, we know there will always be a need for our services in the county. Over the years of increasing rent and fewer rental options, it has become apparent that if we are to assure access to a food pantry into the future, we need to have a permanent home. It is exciting to see that coming to fruition with the purchase of the building at 602 N. Cora Street in Ridgway. The building, the lot and its central location will allow us to meet the needs of both, clients and volunteers, with flexibility for expansion to take care of a growing population and increased services.
Thanks to you, our tremendously generous supporters,
we have reached our fundraising goal early.
We celebrated the event with our many friends and some fine music at our Open House.
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Stefan Davenport and Tom Hennessy entertained our visitors with lively music. |
Christmas 2022 at the Pantry
Pantry day during the holidays is always a special event. Much preparation went into collecting names and ages of children, selecting gifts and assembling unique bags for each household. Specially assembled gift bags of holiday food were distributed. Once again, this year, every family received a generous gift from a Secret Santa.
Megan Rutherford and Danielle Rodriguez from San Miguel Power Association organized another food drive in 2023.
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Ruthie Mayes, Gabriel Mayes and Heidi Hanson, principal of Ridgway Elementary School, delivered a huge donation that was collected by the students.
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Linda Hoeksema spent untold hours shopping for Christmas gifts for all the adults and children in the families.
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As always, our fantastic volunteers, the heart and soul of the pantry, did much heavy lifting to get ready for spreading holiday cheer during the distribution.
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Thanksgiving Celebration
Members of the Ouray Highschool Honors Club, Mica, Pollen and Chloe, inspired by their teacher Jimmy Chiang, conducted a food drive for the pantry in November 2022. They not only delivered many fine donations but also generously helped with stocking items in the pantry. We are so grateful for their contribution and amazed by the spirit of the students.
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Will and his brother delivered Thanksgiving trimmings donated by Ridgway Mountain Market. Ouray Grocery donated Turkeys for Thanksgiving distribution and Mountain Market donated vegetables, bread and dessert to complement the dinner.
Some Fundraising History
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The owners of the building are enthusiastic partners in ensuring the future of the pantry and have been very generous in negotiating the terms of the purchase.
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CLIENTS AND VOLUNTEERS
The graph shows a slight downward trend and then a significant increase in the number of people visiting the pantry during 2020. It is noteworthy, however, that while the pantry welcomes people every Thursday, not everyone needs weekly visits. The economic difficulties during the pandemic are reflected in the increase of the number of people visiting and the family size as well as the more frequent visits.
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We have collected data on a number of items that are relevant for tracking the demands on the pantry and also for projecting future needs. Detailed statistics for each year are available but this graph gives an overview of trends during the past 6 years.
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SOME STATISTICS
The pantry as an organization was resilient enough to easily handle the increased demand thanks to the committed volunteers, the extraordinary support by local donors and groceries and the generosity of Sharing Ministries Foodbank in Montrose. Last year we served an average of 28 households per week resulting in 4050 people-visits for the year (the number of people served per visit multiplied by the number of visits). Our clients are seniors living on a fixed income, some have disabilities, and many are employed but working for minimum wage - insufficient in Ouray County. A few clients live in their cars, camp in the national forest or find minimal shelter where they can.
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