COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — The need for food assistance is on the rise, and there is evidence of a lot of people in the community stepping up to counter it. At Crossfire Ministries in Colorado Springs, it is happening with record high volunteer hours.
No-cost food is no problem at Crossfire Ministries. It happens with a force of volunteers.
"I haven't found a broken one yet," said 10-year-old volunteer Monroe Brown.
Eggs are checked and handed out by the young volunteer. Leaders at Crossfire Ministries report 99% of operations happen with volunteers.
"When we have new clients that come, we walk around the building with them and show them what we have and how they shop," said volunteer Carla Fraser.
"To help them out from the time they walk through that door until the time they leave anybody that needs help with Spanish, I'm here for that," said volunteer Maria Estevez-O'Connell.
There's help in seven different languages thanks to volunteers. The number of people stepping up to help in the community is close to 450.
In 2025, they put in a record number of hours.
"This is our biggest year, 112,004 service hours, and those are confirmed hours," said Volunteer Coordinator, Amy Dunbar, "It's actually a conservative number. It's probably a little bit bigger just in case somebody hasn't checked in or checked out."
The previous record was just over 106,000 hours.
"It is ticking up. It's the economy, it's job pay, it's utilities are up, rents are up, and something's got to give," Dunbar said.
At Crossfire, they fill the shelves through resources like Care and Share Food Bank and donations from businesses and individuals. Then, there's an expense of $20,000 to $30,000 a month to meet need. Volunteers are essential to offsetting costs.
They offer food while also feeding souls.
"They're just overwhelmed by what's happening and you have no clue what's going on, but you just know that they need to be fed," Fraser said.
"I get to help a ton of people," Brown said.
"This is my second family. It really is. In the morning I have a purpose to get up in the morning and come here to help people," Estevez-O'Connell said.
Volunteers do not ask people the circumstance of their need. Instead, they work to counter it.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
___
A local restaurant's post about dining and dashing is raising alarm bells
CSPD says an officer is looking into these situations, but they ask if any restaurant or bar is a victim of a dine-and-dash around mid-January to report it online or through their non-emergency line.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.