DENVER’S HIDDEN GEMS OF HUMANITY SHAPE-SHIFTING WITH COMMUNITY CARE COLLECTIVE BY PAULA BARD CREDIT: PAULA BARD CREDIT: PAULA BARD WHILE THE WORLD WAS SHUTTING DOWN in mid-March, Community Care Collective became sharply aware of the growing hunger around them. The health care clinic in Curtis Park, north of downtown Denver, slowly turned its focus to food justice and partially away from health care, acupuncture, and LGBTQ support. The Curtis Park neighborhood is now laced with burgeoning homeless encampments. Boxes and stacks of food have now edged out the clinic space, leaving just a few treatment rooms. Community Care Collective, still living up to its name, has become a bustling place with a new purpose. When I asked Courtney Carag, a naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist about Community Care Collective, she responded, “Is it food justice? I think it’s one arm. We believe food is a right, not a privilege.” Courtney and Jules Carag, the energetic force behind this evolving project, feed 1500 sandwiches a week from their makeshift wagon, hand-pulled through Curtis Park, and then on to the homeless encampments north of downtown. Eight to 10 volunteers help make hundreds of sandwiches and fill multiple brown paper bags with overflow donations from Food Bank of the Rockies, Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage, and Food Not Bombs. Their diversified offerings include ham and cheese, turkey, salami, peanut butter and jelly, bagels and cream cheese. They always offer a choice and a bottle of water. “We started with ham and cheese, but we needed more options. Some people don’t eat meat, some people don’t eat pork, and the whole point is everybody gets fed regardless. So, we make sure there is something for everyone. Some people don’t have any teeth, or are in immune-compromised conditions and have trouble swallowing. We have donations of liquid and protein meal drinks; they love these.” Courtney tells me this while hauling multiple containers overflowing with paper bags up a flight of stairs to their borrowed car/supply van. 12 DENVER VOICE July 2020 CREDIT: PAULA BARD And it’s not just food; they distribute toilet paper (2000 rolls since March) and bags of essentials for women. Jules told me, “hygiene supplies are a privilege these days, not everybody has access.” I accompanied them on their route on a warm Saturday afternoon in June. Jules pulled the wagon, and Courtney drove the supply van. Jules hands sandwich bags to many regulars who are grateful and enthusiastic about his visit. They are friends by now, he knows them by name. He tells CREDIT: PAULA BARD them he will be back tomorrow. Lots of smiles, thank you’s. He moves fast, covers a lot of ground from 4 p.m. through 8 p.m. The day I went with them, they delivered 350 sandwiches. They hit the streets Monday through Saturday. In these trying times, as they deliver food to the housed as well as unhoused. Courtney and Jules expect more hungry folks in their neighborhood as summer rolls on, and they are ready for them. ■
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