A developing partnership between a local charity and an industry group may serve as a unique model for how collaborations can directly impact those in need.

Catholic Charities Marian House Life Support Services is uniting with Peak Producers, a group representing the city’s top10 percent real estate agents, to sponsor families throughout the year. The partnership is expected to last through 2011,  if not longer, and extends the adopt-a-family concept beyond the typical winter holiday months.

Members of Peak Producers will support two families for all gift-giving occasions by providing birthday presents, holiday baskets and meals throughout the year. The group will also contribute to the families’ day-to-day needs, such as hygiene items, utility assistance and medical costs.

By keeping their impact local and focusing on two families, the group of 69 realtors hopes to make a significant difference in the lives of people who need a hand up and not a hand out, Peak Producers president Cherise Selley said. As the sponsorship unfolds, the partnership may extend its year-round support to more families.

Helping the homeless struck a chord with the group in 2010 after it teamed up with Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful, which cleaned up a “Tent City” of homeless people and found housing for many of its inhabitants.

“The heart of our industry is about housing and homes. And the thought of families who are going without basic essentials and necessities really hits our heartstrings,” Selley said.

As Catholic Charities’ first partnership of this magnitude, president Mark Rohlena said it will serve as a template for how it can work with other businesses in the future.

“We’d love it if other organizations and industry groups followed suit and came to look at what the possibilities are,” he said. “There’s so much need in our community that we would love as many partnerships like this that we could possibly forge.”

Catholic Charities serves more than 250,000 clients a year through its Marian House soup kitchen and other support services, such as adoption and immigrant integration programs. The partnership comes at a time when the organization is seeing increasing numbers of people who need assistance, especially families with children.

Peak Producers has brought bounds of energy to the cause, and has raised $6,000 in monetary and in-kind donations, Rohlena said.

“I think just seeing folks who in some ways are competitors with one another come together and really tend to the needs of the community, that’s a really refreshing thing to see,” Rohlena said.

Catholic Charities is working to identify two families in its system who will benefit from the partnership’s continuous support. Director of communications Rochelle Schlortt said recipients will be families who are working toward financial independence but need an extra push to reach the next level of self-efficiency.

Lisa Grahn, a math teacher in Vilas, Colo., and T.J. Henry, a space science teacher at Challenger Learning Center in Colorado Springs, build a Lego Mindstorms robotic car Wedensday at the Air Force Academy during STEM Camp for teachers. The three-day camp for teachers focuses on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Photo by CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/The Gazette