HELP FOR HOMELESS
Organization offers meals and gear to homeless neighbors
Volunteers with the Foothills Mutual Aid Collective have dozens of mouths to feed and a grocer y list to prove it.
Fifteen pounds of potatoes, 4 pounds of sausage, 2 pounds each of onions and peppers, boxes of eggs, stacks of tortillas, fresh produce and more pass through the home kitchens of the collective ever y week.
What emerges are homemade breakfast burritos, hash browns, sandwiches and other food to warm the hearts and stomachs of For t Collins’ and Loveland’s homeless residents.
Jaten Barney and Colby Gergen, both of Loveland, formed the collective last year. The COVID-19 pandemic had cost Barney his job and given Gergen the time to help with another community breakfast program in Fort Collins, where the two began collaborating.
“We found out we both lived in Loveland and got together to organize in a broader way,” Barney said.
Mutual aid, which Gergen summed up as “neighbors helping neighbors,” of fers a decentralized approach to ser ving the homeless, ideally removing barriers between people in need and those with time and resources to share.
While the term has historically been associated with anarchist beliefs, Gergen said the Foothills Collective is only political “in the sense that homelessness and people being unable to find housing are political.”
“We want to know that the city has a plan for these people beyond just telling them to go somewhere else,” he said. “At its core, we believe ever yone deser ves access to food, stable housing and health care, and to have access to those things without judgment or restriction.”
News outlets across the nation have reported a spike in interest in the community organizing strategy since the star t of the pandemic, which has exposed weak points in the safety nets of governments and larger charities.
From Grand Junction to Denver, to Loveland, groups of residents have sprouted up to feed, clothe and shelter their neighbors. It may not have an of fice or a 501(c) designation, but Gergen estimated the Foothills Mutual Aid Collective has been ser ving up at least 100 meals
‘”There’s no better way to show people that they can have an influence in someone else’s life.”
Jaten Barney Organizer of Foothills Mutual Aid Collective
per week since September in addition to distributing winter clothing and sur vival gear.
“We frequently hear that the breakfasts are the best meals people have had in a week,” Gergen said. The group serves lunches on Mondays, breakfasts on Wednesdays and is starting a third meal on Tuesdays.
The Foothills Collective picks up clothing and gear from donors’ homes and a donation box in downtown Loveland. Cash contributions are accepted online and go toward the thriceweekly meal program.
Barney and Gergen stressed that the collective does not limit who can receive help. While volunteers regularly visit homeless encampments at the King’s Crossing Natural Area in south Loveland and elsewhere, Gergen said the group wants to do more to help people at risk of losing their housing in the future.
He also said the group’s informal structure gives it the flexibility to meet its neighbors’ needs. As uncer tainty over whether the city will sweep certain camps has spread, Gergen said volunteers have been bringing gear to help campers relocate safely. In other cases, they’ve been able to buy individuals clothing that fits and arrange shelter for people with pets.
“When we go into a thrift store and get someone an item of clothing they need, it’s a real difference from how they’ve been treated by some providers,” Barney said.
“There was a couple ahead of our last big snowstorm who had a dog, and they were struggling to get the money together for a night in a hotel,” Gergen said. “Anyone who’s had a pet is not going to give them up forever just so they can have shelter for a night or two. … We made sure they had the supplies they needed to sur vive that weekend.”
While Barney said the collective is looking to expand, Gergen said he doesn’t anticipate they’ll seek nonprofit status.
“We want to stay true to the essence of mutual aid, which is just neighbors helping neighbors with the resources that we have,” he said.
“The end goal is showing people what we can do as a community,” Barney added. “There’s no better way to show people that they can have an influence in someone else’s life.”
Information about donat- ing and volunteering through the Foothills Mutual Aid Collective is available at aidfoothills.org.