On Dec. 13, the El Paso County Department of Human Resources hosted a Feed The Children event in downtown Colorado Springs. The Oklahoma-based organization delivered four semi-truck loads of food, including 1,000 turkeys, clothing, toys and personal products to needy families in El Paso County.The event was successful in terms of how many families were served and the number of organizations that partnered with El Paso County to help make it possible. A few of those organizations included Whole Foods Market, Lowe’s, New Life Church, Goodwill Industries and Music Evangelical Foundation, which represented the secular, faith-based and business communities.Unfortunately, after receiving an update about the progress of the event in our public hearing, The Gazette reported that perhaps, “El Paso County may have tiptoed to the line separating church and state in promoting a Christmas giveaway the Department of Human Services is hosting for its clients with the help of an evangelical group.”We didn’t tiptoe. We walked right up to it and did exactly what we should have. We thanked MEF for their efforts in helping those less fortunate during this Christmas season. In our press release describing the eight-year-old event, we shared, among other things, that the public could go to the MEF Web site to find out more information about how MEF partners with Feed The Children to distribute food to the poor in our community. We shared how the El Paso County Department of Human Services collects clothing, toys, books and personal hygiene items to distribute on one Saturday morning each year to help ease the burden felt by some of the less fortunate.Government should never be the first line of defense when it comes to the poor. Private agencies, especially faith-based agencies, have been filling the gaps that government cannot and should not fill throughout our history.I applaud the efforts of our local faith-based organizations for stepping in and helping our fellow man. I will shout their names from the rooftops and continue to encourage them in their efforts because it is the right thing to do.Instead of attacking El Paso County, I hope folks would focus on how we’re helping those who are less fortunate, not with more taxpayer dollars, but with the goodwill, efforts and resources of any organization willing to do so.Thank you MEF. Thank you Feed The Children, Goodwill, Whole Foods, New Life Church, El Paso County Department of Human Services and more than 40 other organizations who did so much to help make this event happen.I would also like to wish everyone … a prosperous New Year! I look forward to 2009 with great excitement and anticipation.Amy LathenEl Paso County Commissioner, District 2
