When Parachute lost its only grocery store earlier this month — officially becoming a food desert — it was a gut punch to longtime resident Claudia Flores Cruz.
“When your only grocery store that has everything, including a pharmacy, leaves, it just makes you wonder, ‘Well, why? And why weren't we worth staying for?’”
The family-owned Clark’s Market closed Sept. 11, leaving residents of Parachute and Battlement Mesa with few options for fresh food.
Flores Cruz, in a phone interview with Aspen Public Radio from inside the Family Resource Center on Sept. 23, says losing the only local grocery store has “definitely created a sense of sadness” in a community with a high poverty rate that was already struggling with housing and health care expenses and a rising cost of living.
But Flores Cruz says the people of Parachute have survived tough times before, and she’s inviting community members to come to her for help.
Flores Cruz is a coordinator for the Garfield 16 school-based Family Resource Center. It partners with various organizations to offer support services for students and their families.
For starters, it provides a “Pantry of Hope,” with food, clothing and small household items for people in need five days a week. An additional pantry is available twice a week courtesy of local nonprofit LIFT-UP, also located inside the resource center.
“So, on the days that (LIFT-UP) is here, we encourage people to double up (on groceries),” Flores Cruz said. “But for us, if they want to come every day, go for it.”
‘A Very Welcoming Place’
But the Family Resource Center offers so much more than a food pantry.
Visitors can do laundry on site, take home pet food and even receive legal advice from Alpine Legal Services. Students and families can connect with mental health counseling and receive vaccines and immunizations from Garfield County Public Health on the first Monday of every month.
Colorado’s Department of Human Services is also there to help people apply for SNAP benefits and childcare assistance.
“I have crammed in as many agencies as I could from day one,” Flores Cruz said. “I owed it to my community, if I was selected for this job, to do something, because opportunities like these don't happen — not in our district.”
Recipients of the center’s generosity are enormously grateful.
“In my case, they helped pay one of my bills when I was in a critical situation,” said Rosalba Rodriguez, through her daughter, Melissa De La Cruz, who interpreted for her. “I knew that I could come to them and they helped me during a difficult time.”
Rodriguez says when other families need things like food, diapers or baby wipes, she refers them to the resource center.
“It’s a very welcoming place, and a place where everyone can feel safe,” she said.
Rodriguez’s family holds the resource center in very high esteem; her own daughter works there to support its mission to affirm, strengthen, and support families in Garfield 16.
“People are so appreciative of what we do for them and say that they wish that more people knew about this place, or that they knew of it sooner,” said Melissa De La Cruz, who is a new liaison and building secretary at the resource center.
“People are welcome to come over and see what we have,” she said. “We are more than happy to help them with whatever they need. And if there's something we can't provide at the moment, we have other organizations we work with that can maybe get the word out to get the resources people need.”
A judgment-free resource
Flores Cruz says, because the resource center operates away from school grounds, students and their families can receive help without feeling embarrassed or stigmatized.
“That way, the shame doesn't carry into the school building where your child attends,” she said. “In here, you walk into the door and people really can't tell why you're here. You can be visiting a caseworker, a lawyer, or you can just be grabbing food.”
The community is rallying in support of the resource center. Flores Cruz says Grand Valley Fire Protection District Chief Chris Jackson recently donated a large amount of meat. And members of Grand Valley Methodist Church planted a community garden next to the resource center, where congregants grow, harvest and donate vegetables to the organization.
“It's really the whole community helping to feed everybody,” said Flores Cruz.
The resource center has seen an increase in visitors year after year — including this year, which Flores Cruz largely attributes to the region’s high cost of living.
She says it’s too soon to tell if the higher demand is also due to the Clark’s Market closure in Parachute. She’s keeping track of things and will have a better picture of what’s driving the need down the road.
In the meantime, Flores Cruz says hope is driving her efforts.
“This community is resilient and strong,” she said. “And we love each other and have each others’ backs.”
