While Tri-Lakes Cares celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, the nonprofit service agency has added a key ingredient to its menu of homelessness prevention services — behavioral health help through a partnership with Peak Vista Community Health Centers.

Under the partnership, Peak Vista began sending a mobile unit weekly to the Tri-Lakes area in September to see clients who have made appointments in advance for depression, suicidal thoughts and other behavioral health conditions. Demand for appointments has been high with all available booked each week just from the nonprofit’s current clients, said Bill Lyons, director of development and planning for Tri-Lakes Cares.

“We did a community needs survey recently and found behavioral health was among the top needs in our community. We didn’t have the resources to provide those behavioral health services,” but Peak Vista offers the “full gamut” of such services, Lyons said. “The survey found we needed to play a more community-facing role to address the issues that contribute to financial hardship that people are having in our region.”

Tri-Lakes Cares last year provided housing, food, transportation, health care and other services to 853 households that included nearly 1,600 individuals during nearly 12,000 encounters, according to the nonprofit’s “Gratitude Report.” The cost of housing in the Tri-Lakes area has skyrocketed as the area’s population has surged by 40% during the past 10 years so the wage now needed to afford housing in the 80132 ZIP code (Monument) is $42 an hour.

“Service workers (such as those in restaurants, bars and retail businesses) don’t even earn half of the wage needed to afford housing in this area, and there is no public transportation available for them to get to their jobs here,” Lyons said. “We’ve heard from community members who have lived in the area for a generation or more that their children returning here after receiving a college degree can’t afford to live in the area.”

Tri-Lakes Cares clients also have been hit hard by inflation, especially escalating food prices, fueling a growing need for fresh produce, grains, canned goods, meats, toiletries and other household items that the nonprofit gives away through its food pantry, called the Market, Lyons said. While much of the food the Market gives away is donated, he said Tri-Lakes buys 30%-40% of the pantry’s food to keep up with client needs.

The nonprofit also offers clients help with care repairs, gasoline gift cards, free oil changes and bus tickets as well as durable medical equipment loans and help with prescription, medical co-pays and medical referrals. Housing services available include help with rent, mortgage and utility payments and home repair costs, while other services offered are budget counseling, financial guidance, holiday meals and free school supplies and student snacks.

The agency was founded in 1984, the same year as the Empty Stocking Fund and has been part of the fundraising campaign since it began supporting nonprofits. Tri-Lakes Cares also is supported by individual and family contributions, grants and donations from foundations, businesses and local service organizations. The agency’s primary fundraiser is the Taste of Tri-Lakes Cares, featuring dishes local chefs make with items from TLC’s Market.

Tri-Lakes Cares helped one unnamed family of four, including a disabled father and a mother in recovery from addiction, that was living in their RV by making referrals and giving the family access to its market, where the family shopped regularly. The mother found a job at a local truck stop, both children were enrolled in school and the family found a place they could afford to rent with the agency’s help with the first month’s rent. The family no longer needs help from the nonprofit.