Angel Baskets isn’t just for Christmas

Jun 18, 2023

Angel Baskets volunteers, in a photo from December 2021, prepare holiday season gift bags for families in financial need in San Miguel County and the West End. The nonprofits also oversees a wide range of year-round programs designed to address hunger and hardship. Courtesy photo

The United States has the unfortunate distinction of having the highest level of poverty in the developed world.

Closer to home, there is real financial hardship too.

Said Peter Kenworthy, programs manager of Angel Baskets, “There are people in our community who are having to make choices between paying the food bill or the electric bill.”

Helping those people is the mission of Angel Baskets, the local nonprofit that provides food, clothing and other necessities to those in financial need in San Miguel County and the West End communities of Nucla, Naturita and Paradox.

And while many Planet readers will know Angel Baskets as a holiday-season charity, nowadays the organization oversees a wide range of year-round programs.

“Over 40 years ago, Angel Baskets was started for the holidays to provide food and household goods to families in need,” Kenworthy said. “Angel Baskets was small back then. It served maybe a couple of dozen families.”

Kenworthy noted that while Angel Baskets still provides assistance during the holiday season, it no longer takes the form of volunteers shopping, gift wrapping and filling bespoke baskets customized to each client family.

Instead, he said, “we now use reusable shopping bags and fill them with things that are useful, locally sourced and with simpler packaging, which makes it all a little more efficient and sustainable.”

Children receive age-appropriate gifts and all others receive Visa gift cards.

“If people want to use that Visa gift card on their utility bill, that’s their call,” Kenworthy said. “It’s not for us to make those decisions for them.”

He pointed out that streamlining was needed in part because the number of client families has grown exponentially over the years.

Said Kenworthy, “Last year, we served over 200 families and close to 600 people altogether. That was just for the holiday period.”

And the rest of the year?

Kenworthy pointed to year-round programming that covers a range of needs.

One of those needs is food security and nutrition.

“The Telluride Food Pantry operates under our umbrella and we fully support it financially,” Kenworthy said. “We also provide support for the food pantry in Norwood.”

Angel Baskets also operates a senior food gift card program with grocery stores, including Clark’s, Family Market and Redd’s Mercantile for those in need aged 60 and over.

Another program, which is new, provides funding for school nutrition programs, working with Bright Futures for Early Childhood and Families and the West End Family Link Center.

“This concentrates on whole foods, as locally sourced and organic as possible, to ensure that there are healthy options for kids that are free,” Kenworthy said.

Food insecurity in a well-heeled place like this?

“Certainly, the local nonprofit community is aware that food insecurity exists, including in Telluride,” Kenworthy said. “We thought that the need for help would go down post-pandemic, but it hasn’t. This is partly because of inflation, but also one of the main federal programs, SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, reduced benefits back to pre-Covid levels and this has had a big impact on people.”

He added, “We are seeing more need and taking care of more people than ever before. It’s the case in Norwood and the West End, but it’s also the case in Telluride and Mountain Village.”

Another program funds school supplies for students in the Telluride, Norwood and West End school districts.

“We provide funding that is designed to help the schools with basic school supplies and learning tools for kids who can’t afford them,” Kenworthy said. “Or, if a kid needs a uniform or winter boots, we can help.”

He added, “Or maybe a kid is on the cross country team and wants to go to a meet on the other side of the state and the family can’t afford it. Funds can be applied to that kind of a need as well.”

Kenworthy said that the schools in the program apply for what is essentially a grant from Angel Baskets and then dole out the money themselves.

“It’s at the schools’ discretion,” he remarked. “They’re the ones that know their student body, they know who’s really in need.”

Kenworthy also highlighted a program, PharmAid, that is run in partnership with Sunshine Pharmacy in Telluride and the pharmacy at the Uncompahgre Medical Center in Norwood to help people in need with prescriptions and related costs.

And he pointed to a new initiative last fall in which Angel Baskets ran a coat drive with a twist.

“Instead of doing a drive for second-hand coats — which there’s nothing wrong with — I remembered from my days at Mountainfilm how generous sponsors could be and how cool it can be for a kid to get something brand new,” Kenworthy said.

So, he reached out to a number of businesses.

Kenworthy said he didn’t get much of a response at first but “then I connected with Galena Gleason and she said, ‘Hey, I still have great connections in the industry. Let me see what I can do’.”

Before long, Kenworthy was in touch with Stio, the sustainable outdoor apparel company that is based in Jackson Hole.

“They immediately said they would be happy to help,” he said. “We were able to get new winter coats for 39 kids at the Naturita Elementary School. The whole thing cost $4,000 and American National Bank stepped up and made a $3,000 donation and Angel Baskets covered the balance. The kids were thrilled. These were stylin’, really cool, really functional winter coats.”

Kenworthy added that those who want to support programs like these can donate through the Angel Baskets website.

And for those who are facing financial hardship, he likewise urged them to get in touch.

“They can go to our website or contact me directly,” Kenworthy said. “All we do is work to help people that need help. We are an intermediary from people who have it to give to people who have a need.”

Visit tellurideangelbaskets.org for more.

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