Westside Cares marks 40 years of helping low-income, homeless residents in Colorado Springs
Christian Murdock/The Gazette
What began in 1984 as a small collective of churches that came together to help people displaced from the shuttering County Poor Farm has become a lifeline for low-income and homeless residents on the westside of Colorado Springs, where million-dollar homes occupy the same block as affordable housing.
Forty years later and now assisting 10,000 people with less than 5% overhead, the exponential growth of Westside Cares would have been impossible without the elbow grease of faithful volunteers, said CEO Kristy Milligan.
“We have incredible volunteers with vast experience and deep compassion,” she said.
The volunteer force of about 350 people includes Murlene Williams, who retired from a 30-year teaching and school administrator career and has volunteered at the organization for two decades and counting.
“What dedication to show up every week for 20 years just to help people and not get paid for it,” Milligan said.
Deb Mitguard, director of volunteer engagement at Westside CARES, center, meets with the team of volunteers Monday, March 18, 2024, before they opened the doors to clients. The non profit has been serving the westside community for 40 years. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Williams recently received the organization’s highest honor: the annual Founder’s Award, recognizing a volunteer who goes above and beyond to exemplify the spirit of the founders’ vision of giving back to the community.
“She’s a quiet force of patience and kindness and compassion,” Milligan said.
Williams also is reliable and a problem-solver, the CEO said.
“She can work with people on the worst day of their lives, and they can walk out feeling better,” Milligan said.
Monday found Williams and about 20 other volunteers circling up in the morning to review the day’s tasks.
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Those included triaging a line queued up at the door — some waiting for hours outside — to determine whether people could get money for overdue rent, utilities or security deposits; pick up mail; be seen by a nurse; sign up for identification, Social Security cards or food stamps; and obtain free bus passes, clothing and snacks.
Chief Operations Officer Maryann Stadjuhar alerted the group that the agency’s allotment of 1,100 metro bus passes it received in January nearly has been depleted, and they need to selectively fulfill the most pressing requests until another batch arrives.
A prayer sent up before the office adopted the hustle of catching a plane asked that staff and volunteers “not resent others in need” but are thankful for what they have and what they can give.
Those asking for one-time rent assistance are the first to be ushered inside the office at 2808 W. Colorado Ave.
Twenty-two-year-old Rico Sanchez is a proud father of an 11-month-old daughter and owes about $1,000 in back rent.
He was recently released from a correctional facility, and as a convicted felon, Sanchez said it’s been tough to get a decent-paying job to support his family.
“I’m just looking for a little help right now,” Sanchez said. “I’m very thankful there are places like this.”
Vivian Rodriguez accompanied her 25-year-old disabled son, Isidro, to wait in line also for a temporary stopgap in paying his rent.
Isidro is receiving federal assistance, but there’s been a delay in his check, and he’s three months behind, about $1,500, in rent payments.
“We’re hoping he can at least get some money so he doesn’t get evicted,” Vivian said. “I just don’t want to see him go to the streets.”
Westside CARES volunteer Susan Anderson interviews a client Monday, March 18, 2024, inside the nonprofit in Old Colorado City. Westside CARES is celebrating 40 years of helping the community in 2024. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Requests for rental assistance have increased by 1,000% since the pandemic started in March of 2020, Milligan said. Low availability and inventory of affordable housing is the main problems, she said.
People who are homeless comprise about 15% of clients, but they’re frequent flyers in using the agency.
Volunteers are mostly senior citizens, said a man who goes by the name of Uncle Mikey. He’s been homeless for 15 years, and it’s getting harder every year, he said, what with muggings, robbery and other violence.
The volunteers at Westside Cares are “the most helpful in the city,” Uncle Mikey said, while hanging out in the parking lot. In fact, Uncle Mikey said he would give the volunteers the award for the nicest in how they treat clients a little down on their luck.
It’s one of the reasons Williams spends her time and energy as a volunteer “patient advocate.”
“Every staff member and every volunteer is really dedicated to helping others,” she said. “You can take 15 minutes or two hours with someone, and no one cares because they know you are working to try to find the best solution for that person. Whether they need clothing, utilities assistance, a wheelchair, to pick up mail, resources in the community — all kinds of things come across your path, and you have to see what you can do.
“It’s such a community effort; if it’s possible, we’ll make it happen together.”
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Joyce Kunkle, a volunteer for 16 years, spends up to nine hours a week coordinating the resource room, where clothing and personal hygiene items are handed out.
When she moved to Colorado Springs from near Philadelphia, Penn., her son told her the westside was the only place to live.
“The westside gives me the same feel as the small town I came from, the neighborhood stores, a diverse population, and that’s why I like the westside and like volunteering for this organization,” Kunkle said.
Westside Cares was set up 40 years ago to serve a specific geographic location west of Interstate 25, where 30% of residents live at or below the federal poverty level, according to the American Community Survey.
Under a collaborative agreement, three other nonprofits covered different areas in the beginning, but only two continue the model: Westside Cares and Tri-Lakes Cares in Monument.
The Billie Spielman Center has since closed, and Mercy’s Gate expanded its reach in 2019 to be community wide.
The philosophy then is the same as now for Westside Cares, Milligan said.
“We want to do what we do really well,” she said, “Instead of spreading ourselves to be too thin to be effective, we want to focus on and lift up our immediate community.”
Twenty-four houses of worship on the Westside support the organization. The churches supply 80% of the vast volunteer team and 20% of its annual cash income, which last year was $1.1 million. The agency also posted $1.8 million in in-kind contributions last year.
Milligan cites its economic diversity as an outstanding feature of the Westside.
“It creates a vibrancy,” she said. “Being able to invite new residents in new homes into the community with their less-resourced neighbors is a special thing. People all agree that we should be doing something to solve the complex challenges of poverty.”
Colorado Springs City Council will issue a resolution acknowledging the important community contributions of Westside Cares at an upcoming meeting, Milligan said, ahead of its April 26 anniversary.
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Contact the writer: 719-476-1656.
