Colfax Public Library launches emergency supplies backpack program

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  —  The Colfax Public Library has officially launched a backpack program to provide emergency supplies for people in need.

“After your article in the newspaper, talking about the need and the idea, people immediately responded. I want everybody to know that. The very next day,” said Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt, director of the Colfax Public Library.

An article published in the Colfax Messenger in July highlighted Bragg-Hurlburt’s idea to keep backpacks at the library with information about local resources available in Dunn County, along with bottled water, hygiene products, and lightweight non-perishable nutritious food items like snack bars and granola.

The impetus for the library’s backpack program was a homeless woman passing through Colfax who had come into the library.

Bragg-Hurlburt said she felt completely unprepared to offer any help to the woman, because at the time, she was not expecting to see someone who was homeless.

After the woman left and Bragg-Hurlburt had some time to think about it, she came up with the idea of the emergency supplies backpack.

After the July Messenger article, “we started getting people dropping off brand new backpacks, bottled water, lightweight nonperishable food, rain gear. So thoughtful and useful. The thing that capped it off is someone donated $100 and that helped us buy to fill in the things we did not have,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.

“Right now we have four backpacks that are fully loaded with supplies. Among other things, there is a small first aid kit, hygiene products, information about local resources. They are all ready to go. And people can pick out books to take with them if they want from our book sale,” she said.

“When (another homeless person stops at the library), we will be able to give something that will provide tangible help. I think because the library is a public place in our community, in a way, we are an ambassador for any visitor to our community,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.

Resources

In addition to having the backpacks available for someone who is homeless, Bragg-Hurlburt also has collected information about resources available for people in need.

“I started a community resource board so that now at the library, we know how to refer people to different services. Here in Colfax, we have great programs to help people,” she said.

The Colfax Public Library has a brochure available as well with information about special services available in Dunn County.

People also can call 211 for information.

Some of those services, Bragg-Hurlburt said, include community meals in Menomonie; clothing resources; transportation; dental and medical help; immunizations; family planning; a free clinic; resources for appliances and furniture; housing, heating and utility assistance; shelters; home repairs; educational opportunities; legal help for people in domestic abuse situations; mental health resources; and a job center.

“Transportation can be a big thing for some of our rural people who have trouble getting to Menomonie,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.

“One program is available through Stepping Stones. They have volunteer drivers. They need three days’ notice, but if you call 715-235-2920, they will line up a driver to help people get to where they need to go,” she said.

“All of this is going on in our county. And if people have trouble accessing any of that, they can use the transportation service (through Stepping Stones) to get connected. I want people to know about that,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.

The furniture and appliances are available though the United Way C3 Store.

People who need furniture or appliances can obtain a voucher through Stepping Stones, Dunn County human services, Workforce Resource or other participating agencies.

Food pantry

Another group of people about whom Bragg-Hurlburt is concerned includes those who run out of money by the end of the month.

At first, Bragg-Hurlburt had considered keeping a small amount of nonperishable food at the library to help people through the month.

“As far as the food pantry part of it, I thought initially we could collect some food here to help people out. But right away after the article (was published in the Messenger), I received a couple of telephone calls. Geri (Bates) was one of them, to let me know that we already have a food pantry in Colfax,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.

“We have three resources available here in Colfax. We have the emergency food pantry that you can come to two or three times per year. We are a small community, so it cannot be used as a regular pantry, but we have food available for emergency situations,” Bates said.

The Caring Ministries emergency food pantry helps people get through two weeks with food, she noted.

In addition to the Caring Ministries emergency food pantry, Colfax also has the Colfax Community Cares Food Pantry and the backpack program for Colfax Elementary students.

The Colfax Community Cares Food Pantry started a year ago in June and is available for people in need. The pantry is open the fourth Tuesday of the month from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the former nursing home on High Street, Bates said.

Participants only need to give their ZIP code and the number of people in the family, she said.

Bates purchases food for the Colfax Community Cares Food Pantry through the Feed My People Food Bank out of Eau Claire.

According to the website, Feed My People is the only food bank in West Central Wisconsin, and it provides food to 125 hunger relief organizations in 14 counties. In 2015, Feed My People distributed more than 7 million pounds of food, and 70,000 people in West Central Wisconsin, including 25,000 children, relied on food supplied by Feed My People.

The Colfax Community Cares Food Pantry “is working out very well. We have some wonderful volunteers. We couldn’t do it without them,” Bates said.

Colfax Community Cares serves anywhere from 45 to 65 people per month, she said.

“We would love to have more come through because we know there are people in need,” Bates said.

Colfax Community Cares can fill the need for those individuals Bragg-Hurlburt sees in the library.

“What I thought was great about that program, is we run into people who, as the month goes through, run out of money in their household, and they are food-short at the end of the month,” she said.

“The food pantry is very well conceived,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.

The Colfax Community Cares Food Pantry buys $250 worth of groceries each month.

“And I really shop. There is only so much food you can get through Feed My People, but I try to make it a variety. We can get a lot of produce most of the time,” Bates said.

Colfax Community Cares is funded through donations.

“We have had some wonderful donations through churches and businesses,” Bates said.

Anyone wishing to donate money for Colfax Community Cares can contact Bates or Rev. Craig Conklin, the pastor at Colfax United Methodist.

Backpacks

The third resource available in Colfax is the backpack program for students at Colfax Elementary from junior kindergarten through fourth grade.

Families can sign up for the program at school. Volunteers pack food on Friday for the backpacks, and the backpacks are delivered to Colfax Elementary where teachers put the food packages in the appropriate child’s backpack when students are out of the room for recess or lunch.

The program, which is intended to help families in need get through the weekend until Monday, is set up so none of the volunteers know the names of the recipients.

About 40 percent of students in Colfax qualify for free or reduced price lunches, and for some children, the hot lunch program at school is their biggest meal — or sometimes their only meal of the day.

“We have such wonderful volunteers for all of these programs. We really couldn’t do it without them,” Bates said.

Task force

“It feels good to help people,” said Bragg-Hurlburt, who recently joined an Indianhead Federated Library System task force on poverty and inclusion.

People in poverty are “a segment of the population that public libraries serve,” she said.

“I have heard from some of the other librarians in the task force that sometimes they have been met with skeptical or negative reactions from people in their community. ‘That’s not the library’s business. Why are you involved in that?’ And it really made me think, because I got none of that kind of reaction here. I got nothing but positive and helpful feedback. To me, that says a lot about our community. People want to help,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.

“It’s so heartwarming to see the compassion of people. We have a very caring community,” Bates said.

Mini classes

Bragg-Hurlburt is wondering, too, if people in the community might be willing to volunteer some of their time to hold “mini classes.”

“If someone who is good with computers or has a skill, such as resume writing, could come in and teach a mini class, that would be helpful,” she said.

“We have done it in the past, and people enjoy having a little tutor time,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.

The computers at the public library are particularly helpful for those who do not have computers at home or who do not have very good Internet access at home. Most job applications also are required to be filed online, she noted.

You can contact Bragg-Hurlburt at 715-962-4334 or you can e-mail her at hurlburt@colfaxpubliclibrary.org.

Anyone wishing to volunteer or donate funds for the Caring Ministries Food Pantry, the Colfax Community Cares Food Pantry or the backpack program at Colfax Elementary can contact Bates at 715-962-3386 or Pastor Conklin at 715-962-4335.