In December, the Wal-Mart Foundation presented $200,000 in cash donations to nonprofit organizations in the Pikes Peak region during a dinner at the Garden of the Gods Club in Colorado Springs. Two of the organizations are in the Falcon area.Sara Cuna from the Falcon Wal-Mart store presented Debbie Pieper with a $3,000 check for the Calhan Lions Club.”We’re here tonight because of our work with KidSpree,” Pieper said. The KidSpree program provides clothes, school supplies and backpacks for children in the Calhan area. Each year on a Saturday morning in August, Lions Club members and 50 other volunteers are matched up with about 100 children.”The parents sign the kids over to us. We shop with those kids one-on-one and they get $100 worth of clothes that fit them,” Pieper said. “They pick out a backpack and come out with school supplies for the year.”It’s one of the most rewarding things we do, but we couldn’t do it without the Falcon Wal-Mart store. Their staff is absolutely wonderful and takes good care of us. We’re very grateful to be receiving this award tonight.”Cuna also presented Theresa Strader with a $4,000 check for National Mill Dog Rescue. Strader defined a puppy mill for the audience as a commercial breeding farm, where dogs are kept in small wire cages their entire life, without proper veterinary care or socialization.”We rescue those dogs. The heart of that industry is in the Midwest, so we’re always on these crazy journeys in the night to get these dogs from these horrible places,” Strader said.”The dogs have a variety of problems – social and health. Many of them are pretty scared. We work really hard at our kennel in Peyton to get them socialized, healthy and placed in homes.”Strader also thanked Cuna for the Falcon store’s donations of ripped bags of dog food and irregular blankets for the rescued dogs.Other area nonprofits received donations from the Wal-Mart Foundation:
- Early Connections Learning Centers, providing low-cost child care for children 18 months to 14 years old for working families in the Colorado Springs area ($3,500)
- Open Bible Medical Clinic, providing health services to the poor and uninsured in the Colorado Springs area ($3,500)
- Women’s Resource Agency, which helps women of all ages achieve self-sufficiency and economic independence by providing workplace clothing and training on how to write a resume and interview successfully ($5,500)
- Christian Healing Network, which operates Mission Medical Clinic, providing free medical care for the uninsured with an emphasis on chronic diseases such as diabetes ($25,000)
- Colorado Springs Diversity Forum, which organizes the annual Colorado Springs Diversity Festival ($25,000)
- Tri-Lakes Cares, providing emergency assistance and self-sufficiency programs in Monument ($25,000)
- Pikes Peak Community Action Agency, which runs programs that stabilize households in crisis and move low-income individuals and families toward permanent self-sufficiency by teaching job, life and financial literacy skills ($30,000)
