Westside CARES unites religious fellowships of the west side of Colorado Springs in care and compassion for those in need. We are an ecumenical and inter-faith organization.
Our Mission is to serve our neighbors in need with the love and support we receive from our 21 member churches as well as the greater community. Our policy is that the people in need who come to our door are our neighbors and we strive to treat one another in this way.
Specifically, we aim:

• To establish a closer relationship, cooperative spirit and programs among the churches and religious fellowships on the west side of Colorado Springs and its environs.
• To develop a network of outreach and resources to serve the emergency needs of individuals and families and to assist them to become physically and spiritually self-sufficient.

Description:
Westside CARES, its member churches, supporters, and our many volunteers provide food, financial, and medical assistance to low-income residents of the west-side Colorado Springs (west of I-25). We also have special seasonal projects such as our backpack project, Thanksgiving Baskets and Christmas Adopt-A-Family. We also try to give hope, dignity, and a vision of a better future.
Westside CARES emergency services programs serve the needs of individuals and families in crisis. Westside CARES improved the lives of hundreds of low-income individuals and families last year.
In 2007, Westside CARES...
FOOD ASSISTANCE


• Through our four church-based food pantries, Westside CARES distributed 135,228 meals, or $329,631, worth of food.
• We served 4,523 hot meals at The Lord's Supper - a Sunday evening hot meal hosted at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

• We provided rent support for 134 households.
• We provided utility assistance to 594 households.
• We gave clothing vouchers to 2,145 people.
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

• We distributed 500 brand new backpacks filled with new school supplies in our annual Back-To-School Backpack drive.
• We gave 222 Thanksgiving baskets to families in need.
• 243 people in 52 families received a better Christmas through our Adopt-a-Family program
• We provided 153 free immunizations for children at our Immunization Fair.
MEDICAL ASSISTANCE

• We purchased 301 prescriptions.
• We provided 82 eye exams and pairs of eyeglasses.



History:
In the early 1980s the El Paso County poor farm was precipitously closed and the people who lived there were suddenly thrust into the wider community. A number of the churches of the west side of Colorado Springs came together to help meet some basic human needs for these people. Housing was obtained and the neighbors in need were helped to connect with longer-term resources. At the end of this "resettlement" process, people from the helping churches gathered at Bethany Lutheran Church to celebrate in a community Thanksgiving service which was followed by a pie social. And Westside CARES was born, with a mission of connecting the religious bodies and serving our neighbors in need.
Originally staffed only by volunteers and housed in the Billie Speilman Center, in 1993 we moved into our current location in the basement of Bethany Baptist Church. There were two part-time paid staff and many volunteers. In 2008, we have a paid staff of four, but the dozens of weekly volunteers and hundreds of annual volunteers are still the heart of our organization. Over the years there have been a number of other expansions, but our focus has remained on uniting our member churches in service to neighbors in need.



Contact people:


Steve Brown, Executive Director, (phone), (email) Mary Frances Kerr, Volunteer Manager, (phone), (email)


Office fax number: (719) 475-8949

Address:


1930 West Colorado Ave. Colorado Springs, CO 80904 (See a map)


Web Site: http://www.westsidecares.org

Directions:

We are located at the southwest corner of W. Colorado Avenue and 20th Street, immediately behind Bethany Baptist Church. Pull into the church parking lot off of 20th and you will see the double glass doors and our logo,. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: Line 3 and Line 32 - stop at 19th and Colorado, 1 block minute walk

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