John Scarffe, Coal Creek Canyon. When more than 30 Scouts and students from Coal Creek Canyon K-8 School arrived at Whispering Pines Church on Gross Dam Road on December 5, 2019, all the materials to fill food baskets for the needy had been organized. Board members with Canyon Cares of Coal Creek Canyon worked all week before to organize food collections from all over the Canyon.

All along the perimeter of a large room next to the Sanctuary, Board members organized boxes and bags of food on tables and below, and categorized them with signs, which included canned fruit, vegetables with lots of green beans, condiments, drinks, Ravioli, chili, rice and grains, macaroni and cheese, pasta, tomato products, canned meat, potatoes and stuffing, baked items and cereal.

Spread out the floor, empty plastic food baskets were labeled for a single, double or a family. Volunteers would pick from the neatly categorized items to fill the baskets with balanced meals. 

Treasurer Dawn Williams helped to raise funds for Canyon Cares at the Last Stand Restaurant in Coal Creek Canyon on February 16, 2019. Canyon Cares believes the community has a responsibility to help a neighbor going through a tough time and making the community stronger. 

Williams said the organization provided $18,000 to people in need in Coal Creek County, Gilpin County and Nederland. Canyon Cares was organized 10 years ago. As a fundraiser, they sell license plate frames that say Coal Creek and Gilpin. Canyon Cares sponsored a booth at Mountain Fest on August 3, 2019, at the Coal Creek Association, Inc., and raised more than $300 from the community. 

According to their website, “Canyon Cares provides financial assistance in response to community member requests for short-term crises funding such as housing, utilities, food and water, transportation and healthcare. 

“Our mission is to serve our residents by providing short-term resources to help care for the necessities and urgent needs of our neighbors.” Canyon Cares of Coal Creek Canyon, founded in 2006, is an unaffiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Board members organizing the food basket event on December 5, 2019, included Williams, President Karen Siefert who joined Canyon Cares in 2014 at the request of the Nederland Food Pantry Board of Directors after Canyon Cares extended their area of service to include Nederland, Vice President Susan Simone who has lived with her husband Kris Jonsson in Coal Creek Canyon since 1986, Secretary Cindy Goodrich who joined the Canyon Cares Board of Directors in 2017, and Board Members Patricia Dohn who has been a Coal Creek Canyon resident for 22 years and Linds Roberts who joined the Canyon Cares Board in 2019. 

Goodrich said Canyon Cares placed collection boxes in the all of the businesses in the Canyon, including Carl’s Station, the coffee shop and liquor store, the Quick Mart and Last Chance restaurant. Tami Lawson said each classroom in the Coal Creek Canyon K-8 School had boxes to collect food, and one class brought in wagons of food. The school did so well, students got a free popcorn party.

After more than 30 volunteers arrived at Whispering Pines Church at 4 p.m. on December 5, the students received instructions about what they were doing and how to proceed. They formed lines and went around the tables filling the baskets with appropriate food. They bustled and hustled and grabbed cans and bags of food. It didn’t take long before the baskets were full.

Goodrich said the Board advertised for those needing baskets, and they have put together a master list of recipients. On Saturday December 7, 2019, those needing baskets came to Whispering Pines to pick up their basket. 

Due to other donations, those picking up a basket also received a ham or turkey. Also available will be fleece blankets along with personal items such as toilet paper. 

Goodrich said the biggest challenge Canyon Cares faces is just community awareness. When she was at a grocery story recently, she ran into a veteran who had been living in the area for 30 years. He had never heard of Canyon Cares, but he did give her a $20 donation.

For assistance, contact 720-515-1129, email canyoncares.org@gmail.com. For donations, make checks payable Canyon Cares of Coal Creek Canyon at P.O. Box 7392, Golden, CO, 80403.

(Originally published in the December 12, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)