Arthur DeVitalis, Nederland. Nederland Area Seniors, the Town of Nederland, and the Nederland Food Pantry recently received a $50,000 grant through the State of Colorado for a collaborative Covid-19 relief.

Dawn Baumhover of the Nederland Community Center, Kris Current from the Nederland Food Pantry and Nicole Cavalino with Nederland Area Seniors Center (aka Mountain Peak Life) teamed up to centralize services and information for those in need, in addition to working together for the grant. The grant that will benefit area nonprofits.

Dawn searched for grants for the Nederland Community Center The trio actually works together in the Peak to Peak Housing and Human Services Alliance.

“They have been feeding so many people since March; since the beginning of the pandemic,” Baumhover said. “This will help us buy food,” added Kris Current. They wrote and applied for the grant, and thankfully, received it.

The pantry is currently serving 160 to 180 households every single week. The organization does receive food from Community Food Share. There are availability issues and limits on the amount of meat and produce available for the pantry to receive, without paying additional costs.

While the Nederland Food Pantry focuses on the general public and families’ meals, Nederland Area Seniors takes care of elders in need of food. Numbers have exceeded 125 being served by the program in peak Covid-19 months.

“Our volunteers deliver the food to them,” said Cavalino. For our older adults, we’re trying to keep them safe at home and fed, so they don’t have to take the extra risk to go to the grocery store.”

Dawn Baumhover says that her part was to ensure the Nederland Community Center was staffed and continues to provide services. In turn, the center can continue to support others.

“We’re pretty small staffed, but this funding will really help support our staffing costs and our additional costs for food,” Cavalino said. “So, we can order food, make the food in our kitchen, and deliver nutritious meals to our homebound folks.”

A lot of collaboration goes on between the three. They communicate on a regular basis. When requested for something, each knows who to contact. The effort goes beyond local agencies AAA Services in Boulder County, the Emergency Family Assistance Association, and more.

“When Covid testing became available, we all used our networks and social media accounts to promote the testing,” Current said. “We’re trying to share as much information about support during this Covid time as we can.”

With the Peak to Peak Alliance group, the trio thinks that they connect others to more resources, and even grow further. 

For more information on Nederland Area Seniors, visit www.mountainpeaklife.org, or 303-258-0799. Other contact information is also available from the site.

The Nederland Food Pantry website is www.nederlandfoodpantry.org. Additionally, questions should be directed to 720-418-0892 or nedfoodpantry@gmail.com.

The Nederland Community Center can be reached by calling 303-258-9021, or by visiting the town website www.nederlandco.org. The Peak to Peak Housing and Human Services Alliance has additional resources online at www.p2phhs.org.

“We will answer,” said Current, speaking for the three organizers that continue to do what they can in showing community care.  

(Originally published in the January 14, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)