CENTRAL SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — A Patty Jewett neighborhood tradition is proving that community giving, one home at a time, can add up to something extraordinary.
The Patty Jewett neighborhood collected $840 and 253 pounds of food for Care and Share Food Bank Southern Colorado this month — a donation equivalent to 2,100 meals.
Since the project began in 2013, neighbors have raised over $28,000 and donated nearly 16,000 pounds of food to the food bank.
News5 reporter Liv Wood has more on what this neighborhood tradition has accomplished in the video below:
John Cavanaugh has carried on the neighborhood's giving tradition, the food project, for the past four and a half years, going house to house every other month to collect donations from neighbors who want to give back.
"Currently on the pickup list there are about 30 households," Cavanaugh said. "There's 6 pickups a year. It takes about a half a day typically to complete the process and it's something I can do and it's something that I think is worth doing," Cavanaugh said.
His reason for doing it comes down to a sense of shared responsibility.
"This neighborhood overall has the means to help support other people, and I think it's important that we do that," Cavanaugh said.
After making his rounds, Cavanaugh brings the collected food and donations to Care and Share of Southern Colorado, where they are sorted and distributed to 305 partner agencies across the region.
Adam Uhernik of Care and Share said seeing the outpouring from neighborhoods like Patty Jewett is a powerful reminder of what communities can accomplish.
"It shows you the power of what one neighborhood can do and make such a big impact in southern Colorado, which is neat. We'll take those donations in. We'll get them sorted, and then we'll get them back out to our partner agencies and that food going to our neighbors is just so meaningful, especially during the holidays," Uhernik said.
Cavanaugh said he hopes the project continues for years to come.
"People need to eat and we can be a small part of that," Cavanaugh said.
