The Eastern Plains Community Pantry serves almost 600 people every month, according to the pantry’s website.
The EPCP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Calhan dedicated to providing food and other resources to those in need across the eastern plains. The organization serves individuals and families in Calhan, spanning the rural areas of Falcon, Peyton, Matheson, Rush, Ellicott, Elbert and Kiowa.
The pantry coordinator, Cheryl Lopez, said, “We serve a very large community because there’s nowhere else out here for people to go.”
The idea for the pantry was born of necessity. Around 2012, a group of concerned citizens recognized that the once-a-month United States Department of Agriculture Emergency Food Assistance Program provided by the Care & Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, based at the El Paso County Fairgrounds, was clearly falling short in its effort to meet the community’s needs. Desperate to help their neighbors, the group worked together to form what is now EPCP, a thriving pantry operated by 15 board members and other volunteers.
EPCP puts food on rural tables six days of the week through a variety of programs, including The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans through the USDA; the senior program — another government-funded program that distributes monthly food baskets containing staple items like cheese, rice, milk, canned goods and peanut butter to older adults; the mobile pantry, which acts as a sort of “drive-thru” for prepared food boxes that contain produce, bread, drinks, pastries and snacks at the pantry on the third Friday of each month between 9 a.m.and 1 p.m.; and the emergency food pantry where patrons can browse around and take what they need when they need it. The mobile pantry has grown to be the organization’s most popular program.
According to the pantry’s February 2024 service reports for the month, 182 families and 435 individuals were served through TEFAP; 57 seniors were served through the senior program; 217 families and 524 individuals were served through the mobile pantry; and 45 families and 181 individuals were served through the emergency food pantry.
When the pantry first opened its doors in March 2013, it served 78 families through TEFAP and 14 additional families through the emergency food pantry. The pantry’s reach has grown since then. According to the pantry’s February 2024 service reports for the month, 182 families and 435 individuals were served through TEFAP; 57 seniors were served through the senior program; 217 families and 524 individuals were served through the mobile pantry; and 45 families and 181 individuals were served through the emergency food pantry.
Only two of the programs at the pantry (TEFAP and the senior program) are low-income qualification-based, since they are government funded. Through the pantry’s own programs, made possible by donations and grants, the pantry is proud to serve all individuals and families on a whenever-and-whatever-is-needed basis — no matter the circumstance, no questions asked.
“We’re pretty easy going here,” Lopez said. “People can just come right in and we’ll get them signed up for our programs. Or if they don’t qualify for those, they can get food from the front. Anybody can come in and say they’re hungry or they need something, and we’ll build them a box.”
The pantry’s “help yourself” area offers food staples like bread and pastries and refrigerated and frozen goods. They also offer other essentials such as clothing, small appliances, dishware and more. “We have a lot over there,” Lopez said. “We didn’t really think that we’d have much in that area, but the community keeps it well-supplied.”
The positive community impact from EPCP is made possible thanks to volunteers, financial donations and grants, along with food donations from people and businesses. The Falcon Walmart and Colorado Springs Costco on Barnes Road regularly donate food, and a partnership with Safeway helps raise money for seasonal initiatives such as holiday programs. “We go and pick food up from Walmart three times a week and we go to Costco twice a month,” Lopez said. “They give items that are very close to expiring so they can’t sell, but it’s still good for people to eat.”
Lopez has volunteered for the organization since its inception and has served as the pantry coordinator for about five years. In that time, she has witnessed EPCP’s service expand greatly.
“When (the board) just celebrated EPCP’s birthday, all of us were flabbergasted at how far we have come,” she said. “We used to just have the emergency food and TEFAP, and now we have so much more to give.”
Lopez called the rural location of the pantry a “blessing.”
She said, “When we moved out here, it was kind of a hard reality to get used to — that we’re so far away from everything.”
The geographic isolation of living in a rural community can bring a variety of unique stressors, from not having enough gas in the tank to drive into town for groceries to just being lonely miles away from family and friends. Those are the burdens, in addition to food insecurity, that the people at EPCP are happy to lift off of their patrons’ shoulders.
“Yes, they come in here to get food, but they also come in just to have conversations and talk to us,” Lopez said. “They’re so thankful that we’re here. We’re all so grateful out here.”
