What is your talent?
          There are many ways that your service is needed! From simply a way with numbers to accounting and grant writing, from employment mentoring and budgeting, to food pick-up from Wal-Mart and Safeway, or stocking shelves, to making lunch for Thursdays or Fridays, from helping with holiday food distribution, or maintenance of the L&F building, to fund-raising participation and ideas!
          God gives us all different talents. Loaves and Fishes welcomes new ideas of how to better serve the Clear Creek community. Need for Board Members as well as for one-time projects can only be filled by you!
          Come visit our remodeled facility and tell us how you can help!
Marty Hutt welcomes you questions and ideas! Call him at 303-349-4091

​A Few Statistics
From June through September, 1,182 Families were served with 39,346 Pounds of Food, at a cost of $6,100.28. During that quarter, 90 Volunteers spent time serving in every area of the ministry.  Won’t you spend a few hours a month to help?

The Inner Workings of Your Food Bank
Winter was cold, Easter was sunny and warm, and now the snow and rain of
April and May swell our streams. As the water rises and threatens our sewer pipe and bridge, we know that, just as the seasons change, so do our shoppers. Those who remain after the ski slopes close seek jobs in the restaurants, shops, rafting and zip lines. New young folks, and not-so-young men and women arrive vying for those same jobs.Some, who made it through winter without our help, are now back seeking relief from empty shelves. One new arrival was sleeping on a bench at Kum & Go, others are setting up camp sites or living in cars and, for all practicality, are homeless. They all find their way to Loaves & Fishes quickly.

Shoppers come to know volunteers by their first names, and know they care
about each of them. Rita offers to teach one woman how to knit. Susan sent a card to a shopper who was moving away, buys can openers for the homeless, readers for those who cannot read our small signs, and she crochets baby afghans for our new moms. Beverly packages up weekly lunch leftovers for the last shoppers of the week and has a story to tell each person. Jan and Joyce let the "early birds" in to enjoy a steaming cup of coffee and a cookie as they read the local paper or socialize. Lois carefully sorts out over-ripe fruit at the end of the week for the rabbits of one shopper.

The regular volunteers wear many hats. Maria, Marcie and Jessica are the
"behind-the-scenes" prep-room volunteers who divide large quantities of products such as rice, beans, cooking oil, and coffee. As Nancy ends her morning shift, she shops for and delivers food for a family in need and two High School boys living alone. Mary Ann helps us about everywhere, assists a young man to shop for his mother when she is ill (he never takes enough for the household of 7) and generally gives everyone a welcoming smile. Nancy, Susie, Keenan, Dede, our drivers, our lunch cooks who bring our pre-cooked lunches, and Board members all contribute to the daily workings.

The guys are special - each in his unique ways. The male presence relaxes
some of the shoppers. Howard is Abby's stock-room helper and keeps us all from getting too serious about things. Rudy, Bernie and Tom lighten things up with common sense and gentle humor as they work the back desk second shift, different days. Bud picks up from Safeway and talks sports with male shoppers eager to share as men do. Shoppers respect them and value their presence.

These gracious men and women shower so much love on those who need love
and acceptance (even more than food), that we all truly miss them when they take much needed breaks.

As summer approaches, there are many openings in our volunteer
schedule as our faithful men and women plan vacations. Can you fill their
places for a week, two weeks or more this summer?
Are you filled with love and joy to spare? If so, we
need you! Please call today and leave a message on the Voice Mail if we are
not answering. Thank You! — Sherron Slavens

Introducing Board President, Bill Gooch
Married to a wonderful wife, Lisa, we now live in
Georgetown. Clear Creek County has been home for over 25 years, the ski industry being a part of my whole life. Currently I coach competitive ski racing to
the youth.

My journey with Loaves and Fishes began about 5 years ago. Hearing
Sherron Slavens ask for help at 1st Presbyterian Church, I was moved and knew
I wanted to get involved. Beginning as a volunteer food delivery driver, I naturally
progressed into many other areas of helping. Helping others by serving at
this food bank has certainly helped me grow in my Christian walk.

Becoming the Board president has been a bit of a whirlwind, as I try to follow in the footsteps of Chuck Drage, a model of good work. I am thankful for this opportunity to serve, and ask for God's guidance.
We are always in need of help and appreciate all that the board, staff and volunteers do for this
ministry. Please continue your prayers, help and ideas for serving those in need. Thank you for all you do.
Sincerely, Bill

Many thanks to retiring Officers, Chuck Drage, Jean Lewis, and Joe Hatrick...a
job well-done! Thanks for staying on the board with us and continuing to serve!
A warm welcome to officers Joe Moles, Secretary, and Janessa Harmon, Treasurer, and a “right on” to Jan Shirlaw who is now serving as Vice-President.

Loaves and Fishes benefited from extra collections of food during the first quarter of this year. During the six weeks of Lent, the Knights of Columbus requested 40
cans from each family at Christ the King Catholic church in Evergreen. From that appeal, L&F received 830 lbs of nonperishables. Three other food banks were similarly served.

Chuck Drage and Wayne Krieger brought back 1380 lbs of non-perishables from the Flatirons Church in Genesee early in the quarter. Several other food banks were also served.

Almost 41,000 lbs of food came to fill the shelves in the first quarter, making it possible to serve more than 30 new households. Keep in mind as you have time to sort through your cupboards this summer, that shoppers come in need all
summer long and may just be thrilled with a can of sardines or the holiday jam from last Christmas! Many thanks for all that you send to replenish the shelves!

"From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another." John 1:16
Abby Moles called one day last October to offer office assistance on Wednesdays. She started helping with office and shop duties and often offered to fill in when I was short or when we had a Holiday Distribution. When we needed a person to take on the preparation of the BFF bags, she once again volunteered. Once guided, she took hold quickly and worked independently - organizing miscellaneous corporate papers waiting to be caught up and filed, and she maintained an Excel database.

As a volunteer, Abby took and completed the Stephen Ministry course and was commissioned early this year at Rockland Church. This brings us to four Stephen Ministers (Joyce, Kitty, Iris and now Abby) to help with intakes, reactivations and updates. In March when our Food Pantry Assistant was having difficulty with the strenuous work, Abby and husband, Joe, discussed the possibility of her applying for the job. An hour later she applied and after an interview, I offered her the job which she accepted. Officially, her title is Special Programs Coordinator/Food Programs Coordinator. Once again, the Lord provides! 

Now that we have ample kitchen and dining space we have been considering having “cooking” classes for anyone interested. As timing would have it, there was a Colorado Department of Human Services TEFAP & CSFP annual conference which Abby, Iris and I attended. One of the breakout sessions we took was presented by Cooking Matters. They gave us good direction and resources for Nutrition Education class presentations. Abby and I are giving a sample demonstration using lentils, at the June 2nd Clear Creek County Health Advisory Committee meeting being held here at Loaves and Fishes. We will follow up with our first Nutrition Education class for our shoppers on June 18th & 19th, using pinto beans received in our TEFAP deliveries. The other ingredients will also be items shoppers get from us on regular shopping or TEFAP days. It is indeed a blessing to be able to provide another dimension to our ministry.
Blessings, Sherron

Abby and her husband, Joe, joined the Board in January. Abby volunteered to be Secretary. Both have extensive backgrounds in volunteering: Abby works with the 4-H and Charlie's Place here. Both have degrees from Purdue where they met - Abby in Forestry and Joe in computers. Joe works from home (Fall River Road). They have two adorable daughters, Rowan and Willow. They attend the Idaho Springs Lutheran Church. Now that Abby is a staff member, she resigned from the Board, and Joe was elected Secretary.

Children whose families qualify for subsidized school breakfast and lunch, whether they are shoppers or not, are able to participate in the Programs-4-Children at Loaves and Fishes.

During the school year, Bags For Food, which provides nutritious snacks for the weekends, ends as our School's Out Program begins. The School's Out Program runs for the summer months. It provides extra
milk, cheese, lunch meat, and other proteins and vegetables so that the children continue to have balanced
nutrition not always available to shoppers. In 2014 an average of 25 children per week were provided nutritious
supplemental food by both programs, and that rate continues in 2015.
Our third kids program is our School Supplies program. This program is designed to help provide
the tools they need to start the school year off right. We collect supplies required by the schools to make
them available to the children.
If you are interested in helping with any of these programs please consider donating specifically for
them. Nutritious foods and school supplies keep our kids going! Thank you!
— Abby Moles

9590 individuals were served in 2014.
In the 1st quarter of 2015:
456 families (35 new & 54 reactivated households)
are active shoppers.
48,475 lbs of food have been donated and purchased
at a value of $66,501
(actual cost to L&F of $6947)
37,897 lbs of food were distributed (valued @
$62,909)
35 to 40 Volunteers have served between
410 and 430 hours per month.
Only through your generosity
can this kind of service to our
neighbors be possible!
Thank you in the names of all those
whose hunger is being satisfied.

Cooking Oil, Sugar, Coffee,
Ramen Noodles
Canned fruits & vegetables - pull top cans
Canned meals (stew, chili, hearty soups) -
pull top cans preferred
Instant Side-dishes
(rice, pasta, potatoes, etc)
Peanut butter-any size
Jam, Jelly, Butter
Condiments - mayonnaise, catsup and
mustard… (2 small rather than 1 large)
Backpack-sized can openers
Toilet Paper
Feminine products, Men’s shavers
School supplies of all kinds, but especially
back packs – by August 1st please

New Kitchen??? No, just KITCHEN

Loaves & Fishes has no kitchen; no stove, no oven, and no prep sink, and the prep table is on the enclosed porch! Add to that the facts that our electrical system is overloaded by the several freezer units in the annex, the shoppers eat lunch in the reception area, balancing paper plates on their knees, setting their coffee or water on the floor next to them, the lunch for 90/week, frozen in gallon bags, must be heated in the microwave, and kept hot in two 7-quart crock pots, and often the pet food must be repackaged just when the porch tables are covered with human food. 

Sherron found herself dreaming and sketching kitchen, eating area, walk-in freezer, roof lines, new electrical system…she was in deep water there!  Enter architect Greg Cade, who heard about the dream, and put it on paper: three full sheets of paper, several times, connecting an addition to the north end of the building and the annex. An engineer looked at the plans and found them to be very good. Many of the Board members and Volunteers have made suggestions. The dream has just begun! 

Recently a local church received a large donation for large projects, funding from the USDA has become available. L&F is making applications to pursue the dream: “A real kitchen with room for tables for our shoppers to sit and eat their lunch!” Even with no commitments for funding, we are moving forward in the Spirit. And the dream continues.

There many ways in which this kitchen will be a blessing:

· By using produce which will turn bad before the next shopping day to prepare nutritious soups and other dishes to serve to the shoppers.

· By providing appropriate space for the county or staff to run cooking or nutrition demonstrations and for the nurses when they give free flu shots, blood pressure checks, or health counseling to our shoppers and volunteers.

· By providing ample space to prepare snacks, assemble Weekend food Backpacks and School’s Out boxes for children who receive subsidized school lunches during the school year.

· By expanding the shopping area into the current reception area.

· By allowing portioning of pet food separate from human foods.

Additionally, the renovation/addition will correct drainage problems and electrical/heating difficulties which need to be addressed currently.

Come by, see the plans, dream, pray with us, and help us raise funds for
 THE KITCHEN.

Greetings from the President of the Board

Loaves & Fishes continues to serve the Lord through various food programs.  Even though the  number of people who are served continues to grow, the challenges are met with answers that can only come from above. 

This is not to discredit our Director, Sherron Slavens and her Assistant, Janene Laemmar, and all of our great volunteers, without whom we could not exist.  Their direction, participation and input is phenomenal!

Moving through the fall and into winter, Thanksgiving and Christmas programs will expand not only the amounts of food needed, but also the special kinds of food traditional for the season.  With this, there is always a need for more support from the surrounding communities.  With your help, we can continue the miracle which is Loaves & Fishes.

Thank you,

Chuck Drage

A Few Statistics As of September 30th 

Active households average 141 per month, feeding around 800 people each month. In September, 150 households were active, down slightly from 2012, indicating a slight improvement in need.  We always hope that the ski season will bring greater employment!

Over the three quarters of 2013, $9301 has been spent on food from L&F funds, with another $634 spent by Board members, staff, and volunteers, in addition to their monetary donations. This leaves us dipping into savings for food for the October-December quarter. Distributed each month are between 10,000 and 14,000 lbs of food, including both donated and purchased food.

In August and September, 18 households were reactivated, bringing to 6263 persons the total served for the year. In September, 24 new households came for assistance!

In our children’s programs, both School’s Out and the School-year Backpacks for weekends, 1068 servings of nutritious supplemental foods have been provided: see the article by Janene on the back page.

Thanks to you the Donors of money, time, and food, this ministry is sustained!

Reflections from the Executive Director
"Are you going to fill it up again?" These are words frequently heard on Monday mornings as Carlson students turn in their BFF bags to teacher Jackie Steeples.
              Our weekly food distribution program is seeing increased activity again. Summer employed some of our shoppers with tourist-season jobs, especially in rafting. The Twin Tunnel project has also provided a few jobs. However, we added 24 new and 8 returning shopper households in the month of September. It is hard to keep the shelves full.
"I received notice that my food stamps are being reduced in November" the tearful shopper told me as she further explained that they had barely been "getting by", but had taken pride that they could make it at all without our assistance. Returning to our food pantry for help felt like failure to her. She and her husband are among our under-employed shoppers. They come in only when they need to and take only what they need - they do not see us as an entitlement program, in fact, very few do.
One shopper took a bunch of over-ripe bananas home to bake banana bread. She returned later that day with still-fresh banana bread for all of us to enjoy with our coffee. Our shoppers would prefer to give than to take and look for ways to help us or other shoppers. They offer rides, carry out groceries and share recipes.
All these programs stretch us financially and time-wise. Thanksgiving basket distribution is coming up and that will necessitate even more funds and volunteers. Can you donate $25 towards a Thanksgiving basket, $10 for a turkey, or a few hours one day to help set up or distribute baskets? 

We need you and thank you! 

Sherron Slavens

Ed Note: There is a great need for volunteers, especially on Thursdays…

Give Thanks by becoming a volunteer… and fill the time slot most convenient for you!

With Loving Thanks to Sally Nisler

           Sally has been Board President, Newborn basket creator, grant writer, lunch cook, School’s Out initiator, and faithful Board member from Grace Episcopal Church in Georgetown over the past 10 years. This is only a small part of her service as she used her talents to support the work and workings of this ministry with patience and perseverance, helping all involved to grow in faith and mature in the ways of the Spirit. 
With Loving Thanks to Sally Nisler

           Sally has been Board President, Newborn basket creator, grant writer, lunch cook, School’s Out initiator, and faithful Board member from Grace Episcopal Church in Georgetown over the past 10 years. This is only a small part of her service as she used her talents to support the work and workings of this ministry with patience and perseverance, helping all involved to grow in faith and mature in the ways of the Spirit. 

We thank you, dear Servant of the Lord! May your new endeavors find you to be the blessing you have been for all at Loaves and Fishes!

We thank you, dear Servant of the Lord! May your new endeavors find you to be the blessing you have been for all at Loaves and Fishes!

Programs 4 Children


Over the years, Loaves & Fishes has been developing children-focused programs. For the fourth summer, the School’s Out program distributed food to families to help fill in the gap caused by missing subsidized meals at school.  Over 4,000 pounds of food was distributed this year, reaching more than 80 children in the community.

For the tenth year, in August, over $2000 of donated school supplies  were made available to students. The parents and children are so happy to be able to choose from the fun school items. One mother spent nearly an hour happily picking out needed items for her young girl.

Now that school is back in session, 25 Weekend food Backpacks are distributed to children at Carlson Elementary School, with the help of teacher Jackie Steeples. In early 2013 she discovered that these children did not have access to food all weekend and worked with Sherron to provide supplemental food for those days.

Our newest program is  in collaboration with the Idaho Springs Library, providing snacks to 20 children who go to the library for several hours after school. Our first distribution was a case of apples!

            Programs 4 Children will continue to grow and expand with the needs. On Thursdays we need help on prepping the weekend food bags. We are also accepting kid-friendly snacks and quick meals (like macaroni and cheese) to fill the need.  Please feel free to come visit us and see what we are up to on Thursdays and Fridays!

Janene Laemmar

Christmas, A Time to See God at Work in our World

As Nature progresses in its cycle from spring and new life, through the bountiful summer, it is in the Fall that we see the gold and russet, the straw and seeds of maturity, and signs of the dormant winter to come. It is quiet reflection on the wonder of nature that we recognize that  God is the sunshine and the Love, in Jesus, who makes it all happen.It is in serving those in need that the finest of human relationships is born and nurtured. It is in the still of the night that Jesus is born.

This food ministry is blessed with each of you, the instruments of His touching those in need with grace and peace.  Knowing that the needs are great and that winter is coming,

faith in His provision keeps hope alive, and all are grateful.  His Love fosters your generosity, and that Love is passed on to His people.

May His Peace be with each of you!