For decades, Jefferson County has been thought of as a booming metropolitan Denver enclave where the life style is either plush or near plush.
But at the northeast corner of West 14th Avenue and Estes Street in Lakewood, that image is shattered.
This is where the Jeffco Action Center helps thousands of impoverished individuals and families each year.
The building is packed with people in need of shelter, food, clothing and help with utility payments or health care.
“Poverty is alive and well in Jefferson County,” said Mag Strittmatter, executive director of Jeffco Action Center Inc. “There are some very extreme pockets of poverty in Jefferson County.”
In the past 2 1/2 years, JAC has served 57,000 unduplicated clients. Each year, the group serves as many as 30,000 people, Strittmatter said.
The Saturday before Thanksgiving 2008, 1,500 families came to JAC to receive a free Thanksgiving food box. The turnout was unprecedented.
On Saturday, when the food boxes will be handed out again, the center is also expecting huge demand. In the 12 months that ended June 30, the center saw 15,000 first-time consumers of its services.
“Those are people who suddenly became part of the great displaced population,” Strittmatter said. “Their jobs have been eliminated. Or if it is not a job loss, it is an income loss.”
The center currently distributes 6,000 pounds of food every day. Five years ago, the average daily distribution was 3,000 pounds.
In addition to giving out food, the center provides shelter, although there are only 22 beds available.
The shelter beds are reserved for people who are employed, employable or engaged in an active job search.
The center works to get the families and couples into apartments.
There is also a free-clothing “store,” where clients can obtain shoes, trousers, blouses, dresses and other basic clothing.
In 2008, the center gave out 107,000 articles of clothing.
“We are here to provide an immediate response to basic human needs while also promoting pathways to self-sufficiency,” Strittmatter said.
The center partners with Red Rocks Community College, the Estes Street Community Clinic and the Jefferson County Department of Human Services to provide health services for its clients and help them obtain further education.
The majority of the center’s funding comes from individual donors, with foundations ranking second. But vital to the center are the 1,800 volunteers, who last year donated more than 52,000 hours.
Sherry Engleman has been volunteering for 10 years. Recently, she was helping put items in the food boxes distributed daily.
“I do it because I am blessed,” Engleman said. “I work in community mental health, and I see the need.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
