Tri-Lakes Cares

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The one-stop-shop for Monument area families seeking a brighter future

“Clients tell us that it’s a welcoming environment—they feel like they’re treated with dignity and respect,” says Bill Lyons, TLC’s director of development and planning

Our Impact

The act of seeking help with putting food on the table or paying bills often comes with stigma. But the staff and volunteers at Tri-Lakes Cares work hard to dissipate negative feelings when their clients, residents of northern El Paso County, walk through the doors of their nonprofit.

And they seem to be succeeding.

“Clients tell us that it’s a welcoming environment—they feel like they’re treated with dignity and respect,” says Bill Lyons, TLC’s director of development and planning.

“There’s a lot of camaraderie,” he adds. “If you walked in and we didn’t have name tags on, there would be days when you wouldn’t be sure who was staff, who was a volunteer, and who was a client.”

Tri-Lakes Cares seeks to meet clients—residents of Monument, Palmer Lake, Black Forest, Gleneagle, and surrounding areas—where they’re at, addressing economic and health issues holistically in service of a brighter future.

“Whatever a better tomorrow would look like for you, we want to be able to help you reach that,” says Molly Stephens, director of client services.

For many families in northern El Paso County, it’s becoming more and more difficult to afford mortgage and rent payments, groceries, and health care costs. In Monument ZIP code 80132, where most of TLC’s clients live, the average household would need to earn $46.73 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment, according to an annual report by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition.

A worker earning minimum wage, $14.72 per hour in El Paso County, takes home less than 32% of that.

“If you’re a service worker of any type, whether you’re a schoolteacher or fireman or a policeman or you work in hospitality or you’re an auto mechanic, you can’t afford to live in this area—or it’s very, very difficult to afford it,” Lyons says.

TLC’s model is aimed at enabling families facing financial hardship “to stay in their homes.” In service of that goal, TLC’s most popular program is its “free-cost, free-choice” Market, where clients can select from pantry staples, fresh fruits and vegetables, and frozen meats, depending on their family’s nutritional needs and dietary preferences.

Clients can request financial assistance to help cover vehicle maintenance and repair costs, rent and mortgage payments, and utility bills. Other popular programs include Christmas gifts and school supplies for families with children, as well as weekly laundry services.

Clients say these programs help “get them through whatever it is that may be happening—just to know that they don’t have to worry about how they are going to do laundry for their family or how they are going to feed their family this week,” Stephens says.

In order meet the unique needs of a diverse client base that includes everyone from older adults, to families with children, to college students, TLC works hand in hand with other local organizations. For example, a partnership with CommonSpirit Health allows TLC to coordinate medical services for clients who need help covering copays or affording over-the-counter medications. By collaborating with Peak Vista Community Health Centers, TLC also facilitates behavioral health care on site.

Funders including the Colorado Springs Health Foundation make it possible for TLC to address clients’ needs holistically. In particular, “[CSHF] has been really essential to our ability to be able to provide some of the health-related assistance programs that we’ve been able to develop over the years,” Lyons says.

For clients, TLC is more than its array of resources and services. It also provides something more simple: an opportunity for authentic connection.

“Something that we hear up here a lot is that our clients are suffering from loneliness and isolation,” Stephens says. “Some of them do come here just to have the ability to have a conversation with someone, just to see friendly faces and meet with [their] case manager.”

“That kind of small-town feel I think is also something that our clients really look forward to.”

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