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Tri-Lakes Cares to expand services in new building

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Contributed by: Jennifer Wilson on 10/4/2006

Space is tight at Tri-Lakes Cares.

Baby diapers and glazed donuts crowd the shelves inside the entrance a few weeks ago. Farther into the room, volunteers pile boxes of macaroni and cheese, cans of soup and packets of rice.

Upstairs, crayons and folders sit in boxes on the floor. There isn't enough table room for them amid stacks of shrink-wrapped writing paper and spiralbound notebooks.

This all will change for the Monument-based nonprofit in a couple of months.

After two years of operating inside a two-story garage, Tri-Lakes Cares will move into a new 8,000-square-foot building on North Jefferson Street.

"We dreamed a big dream, and it happened," said director Judith Pettibone, who lives in Woodmoor.

Tri-Lakes Cares started serving the needy in 1984, and for the past two years, it has been housed in a 900-square-foot building behind Abundant Life Assembly of God on Second Street.

Two double garage doors dominate the front of the building. South of the doors, a small wooden sign describes the structure's purpose: "Tri-Lakes Cares, Monday & Thursday 12 til 3."

The building isn't big enough to store all their donations, so about a dozen Tri-Lakes Cares volunteers keep items in their garages and basements, including a set of bookshelves in one volunteer's crawl space, Pettibone said.

Tri-Lakes Cares also rents units at the storage facility a couple of blocks east, she said.

The new center, steps away, will have plenty of space for more donations, including clothes, Pettibone said. The organization will offer donated clothes through a program called "Granny's Attic," she said.

The "Dress for Success" program will help locals get a good wardrobe for job interviews and work, Pettibone said.

A few other organizations also will set up shop in the new building.

The Pikes Peak Workforce Center will have its own space with computer stations for job hunters, and one room will be set up for a nurse from the Tri-Lakes Health Advocacy Partnership, Pettibone said. Other rooms include a playroom and a conference center.

Pettibone hopes community members take advantage of the new space. "Our goal is to have this building used," she said.

The facility, which will cost about $800,000 to build, is being funded entirely by donations and grants, Pettibone said. Volunteer labor is helping to raise the building, she said.

There's no comparison between the current structure and the new one, said assistant director Carrie Oliver, who lives in Gleneagle.

"Night and day," Oliver said.

Oliver looks forward to the day she doesn't have to lug donations to outside storage buildings.

A volunteer for 14 years, Jim Bergeron said, "We're going to have so much more room."

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