COLORADO SPRINGS — With more families at risk of homelessness, a Colorado Springs family is stepping up to lend a helping hand.
Back in January, Tracey Porter and Marcy Langlois created Food Trucks Against Homeless. A robust program that feeds roughly 85 people each Monday between 11 a.m.-1 p.m. from the Westside CARES parking lot.
"It's a hot meal, and it's fantastic. Chicken, sweet roll, and potatoes. You can't ask for more," said Francheska Gomez.
One day makes a big difference for people like Gomez whose experiencing homelessness.
"Things go sideways fast. My sister has been out here for years," said Gomez.
She's been on the streets for two days and had stopped by Westside Cares for services.
"I saw on the board that they do other things and so I happened to see it was Food truck Mondays haha," said Gomez.
“Marcy and I faced significant hurdles in our lives, and we were fortunate to be surrounded by caring people who supported us when we needed it most. Now that we’re financially stable, we see it as our responsibility to give back to others, when they need it most,” said Tracey Porter. “Once the initial shock of what was happening around us set in, we knew we wanted to make a difference both for people in poverty and for local businesses. We talked with Kristy (Milligan, the CEO of Westside CARES) about our idea and she agreed that a weekly food truck at Westside CARES would be a perfect combination of supporting local business and filling an actual need.”
Porter developed a Facebook Group called Food Trucks Against Homelessness, which has received considerable support both from local food trucks and individuals interested in supporting their efforts. They have worked with several local food trucks, including Sapo Guapo Tacos, Lucy I'm Home, Mateo's, Tango Springs, Phat Frankies, BF Chew-Chew Gastrotruck, Smokin' J's BBQ, Mile High BBQ, Roadtisserie, Tepex, Sno Peak Shaved Ice, and La Casita.
"We try to get food trucks that will give up their time, food, and supplies needed to serve that food. We do offer $200 to each truck, but most of the trucks give of that," said Porter.
"To ask them to come and volunteer their time, a majority of them love to be able to do that but others can not so we need to come up with the funds to make that happen and available," said Langlois.
For those interested in donating to their Venmo account, visit their Facebook group.
