A friendly competition has sprung up among 10 Broomfield “neighbors” who were asked to help raise money for Broomfield FISH to meet food needs it expects to see over the summer, as the coronavirus pandemic keeps driving up the number of people seeking assistance.
FISH Executive Director Dayna Scott said the Neighbors Helping Neighbors challenge began April 20 and will go through June 30. Each of the 10 community members/groups participating were asked to set a goal between $10,000 and $20,000 to help the nonprofit reach its $100,000 goal.
Money is donated to FISH through the Colorado Gives Day website, Scott said, or people can mail checks to FISH at 6 Garden Center, Broomfield, CO 80020 and add “N to N” and the name of the person they’re donating on behalf of in the memo line. Visit coloradogives.org/neighborshelpingneighbors to see a full list of neighbors, including photos and bios.
Carolyn Crouse, one of the fundraisers, said FISH is important to her because her mother-in-law was one of the six founders. It’s always been a priority for her family to volunteer and donate, she said, especially now when the needs are “increasing every single week.”
“At this point we’re beginning to feed our neighbors, people who were completely stable,” she said. “I think it’s a very worthy effort.”
As of Tuesday, Crouse had raised $8,183 toward her $10,000 goal by putting out requests on Facebook and inviting friends to donate. As someone who offers music classes out of her home, and whose husband operates a local chain of restaurants, she is aware of how hard things are for businesses owners. Her piano classes have moved to Zoom.
“I’m lucky I get to continue to do that,” Crouse said, adding she prefers to see children one-on-one. “I really miss that time spent with children.”
Individual donations have ranged from $10 to $1,000, Scott said. As of Tuesday, FISH had raised $67,797 of its $100,000 goal, according to the website.
Participants range from state Rep. Matt Gray and Ward 5 Councilwoman Guyleen Castriotta to businesses such as Epsilon and Broomfield FISH’s Youth Advisory Board and MVP board made of middle school students. Other community members include Ellie McKinley, Karen Steele, Kelly Sokol, Doug and Tina Reeves, Jen Gray and Clelia McVay.
Scott said FISH is distributing 48% more food compared to the same time last year. In March, FISH volunteers gave out 145,122 pounds of food. April averaged about 80 families a day, but some days the nonprofit served 120 families.
“In the past six weeks what we’re seeing is a lot more new families than we’d normally see,” Scott said. “We had 160 new families in the past six weeks who have not been to FISH ever or in the past two to three years.”
There is no income requirement to receive food, she said; recipients need only be Broomfield residents. While it’s difficult to know for certain, Scot said she does not believe people are taking advantage of the service.
Sometimes people don’t understand how difficult it is for people to ask for help, she said, and most people aren’t going to come unless they absolutely must. Scott stressed that emergency food boxes are given to anyone who needs help — whether their difficult situation is temporary or more long-term.
“We see families from every neighborhood in Broomfield,” and we’re seeing a lot of people who had to file for unemployment who may not have had to use FISH (or any assistance) in the past,” Scott said.
Seniors who are not comfortable shopping at the grocery store also are coming in more, she said.
Giving is keeping up with distribution because the community has been “incredibly generous,” Scott said, with donors listing COVID-19 as the reason for giving. FISH has partnered with local King Soopers and Safeway locations in Broomfield to set up donation bins.
“When you’re giving out 150,000 pounds of food a month, it’s coming in and going back out,” she said. “A testament to that is FISH had to order green beans. We thought we would never in a million years run out of green beans.”
FISH’s operating expenses are currently about $60,000 higher than normal, Scott said. A lot of that comes from having to purchase food since food donations are no longer being accepted. The nonprofit also saw a spike in emergency financial assistance requests.
FISH is still keeping data on clients and is double checking to see if families are coming more than once a week, Scott said. Staff can then follow up to see if the family had a change in circumstances, such as more people in the household. Typically a “regular” family, which includes one to four people, receives about 80 pounds of food. Larger families receive 160 pounds of food.
Aside from its curbside pickup, FISH prepares an average of 50 boxes of food a week that go to Broomfield Meals on Wheels food recipients.
As of Tuesday Chris Roarty, who leads a volunteer club at Anthem Ranch, had raised $24,039 toward her Neighbors Helping Neighbors challenge goal of $25,000.
Initially her goal was $10,000, but that increased by $5,000 increments as she met each goal.
Anthem Ranch has a large population, she said, and people have been generous. Initially she sent a request for donations to the 400 people on the volunteer club’s mailing list.
Another project that coincided with the Neighbors Helping Neighbors challenge was the work of 25 women who are making cloth masks, Roarty said. The group has donated about 1,250 masks, which people usually pick up on her porch. Masks also have been donated to hospitals and child care facilities.
When she and her volunteers filled those requests, they asked people to consider donating to FISH.
Since the volunteer club focuses on going into the community, members feel stymied and are finding ways to work from their homes. If there could be a silver lining to this crisis, Roarty said she thinks it’s that some people will come out of the pandemic kinder.
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