Loaves & Fishes Outreach Team and Christ First Volunteers Reach Cañon City, Colorado, Homeless Population

Community members in Cañon City may see unhoused individuals carrying their belongings in strollers or sleeping in an alley or behind a dumpster. What many residents do not see is the work of individuals and organizations who meet those people’s needs and help them seek housing. This article is the second in a year-long, monthly series looking into the Homeless Solutions Working Group and its subcommittees in Cañon City.

Yvette Sheets and Becca Hague go out every weekday, Monday through Friday, regardless of the weather. They search parks, alleyways, culverts, parking lots and other out-of-the-way places for unhoused people, offering water, snacks, hygiene products, a ride or a listening ear.

Sheets, the Homeless Outreach Coordinator for Loaves & Fishes Ministries, said housing is a central goal. “One of our goals is we want to get them housed, whether that’s through rehab, whether that’s through getting them into housing itself, that would be [Loaves & Fishes] goal,” she said. “Our goal as outreach is to initially make that first contact and build that rapport and trust, and build relationships so they feel more comfortable utilizing the resources within our community.”

Loaves & Fishes Ministries created the Homeless Outreach team about a year ago. The team is part of the Homeless Solutions Working Group, which the article describes as an action- and solution-based community group. A grant from the Department of Local Affairs and community donations fund the outreach program.

Meal delivery follows a weekly rhythm. On Tuesdays, the team picks up 30 hot meals from Mercy Today Ministries for delivery. On Thursdays, volunteers from Christ First Community Church deliver meals. Jack and Janet Hagan volunteer through Christ First Community Church, formerly First United Methodist Church, and also work closely with the Cañon City Police Department and the Loaves & Fishes outreach team. On Thursdays, depending on the weather, volunteers begin on the west end of town at Veterans Park and work back toward Loaves & Fishes, offering packaged hot meals, snacks, clothing or hygiene bags. They hand out about 50 hot meals each week to unhoused individuals and to 14 shut-ins.

Sheets said the team goes out in cold weather, especially during storms, to offer hot chocolate or coffee, warm clothes or a blanket, or a ride to a shelter or another destination. “We even let them sit in the vehicle for 15 to 20 minutes to let them get warm,” Sheets said. “The last thing I want to do is find somebody on the streets that is frozen or frostbitten.” The team regularly carries rinse-free bathing wipes, dog treats, blankets, emergency medical supplies, some clothing, gloves and Narcan.

Hague, who serves as peer support for the Homeless Outreach team, described the approach. “We will sit on the ground with them, in their mess of hoarded stuff and just talk with them,” she said. Sheets added, “We meet them where they are at, whether that’s under a bridge or in the jail or at Veterans Park.”

Sheets and Hague work with the Cañon City Police Department, the CCPD co-responder, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Land Management, the school district and some public defenders. The team can conduct housing assessments, provide resources, help arrange rehab, enroll people in benefits such as Medicaid or SNAP, help obtain bus tickets for those who wish to move out of state, and schedule and attend appointments with doctors, dentists and mental health providers as an advocate or support person. The team meets monthly with several entities to discuss individuals by name and plan how to meet their needs together. It also meets with CCPD about the top 12 people officers encounter most often, reviewing each person individually to confirm they are receiving resources.

“When we do get someone housed straight off of outreach, I will walk beside them until they are comfortable in housing,” Sheets said. Her commitment to walking alongside people through the transition, as Galatians 6:9 calls believers to not grow weary in doing good, reflects the patience the work requires.

Source: Read the original report