Page 18 - August 2020 - The Castle Pines Connection

18 CastlePinesConnection.com Vi age Castle Pictured left to right: Pam Kelly, Betsy Ciccotello, representative from Help & Hope Center, Lisa Marquardt, Carol McCraw, Carol Kingsley and Wanda Ford; Kneeling left to right: Leslie Percival and Jane Niederbrach. Information provided by the Village Castle Pines Garden Club; photo by Terri Wiebold The Village Castle Pines Garden Club (Club) helped collect toiletries for the Help & Hope Center in Castle Rock last month, organizing a “drive up, drop o ” event in The Village at Castle Pines shops. In only three hours on a Saturday morning, the Club collected 1,128 pounds of toiletries and cash donations of $870. Jane Niederbrach, president of the Village Castle Pines Garden Club said, “We are thrilled to be able to support the Help & Hope Center during this time of increased need. Thanks to our great team of volunteers, we were able to devise a way to conduct this event while still conforming to appropriate social distancing and other personal protective guidelines – a bit of an added challenge – but absolutely consistent with the Club’s objective of community service.” Requests for assistance, as well as the number of new clients at the Help & Hope Center, have increased dramatically over the past year. The Help & Hope Center has been at the mercy of a variety of factors – grocery store shortages have almost eliminated regular donations; stays on rent increases and utility payments are coming to an end, leaving many in deeper debt as a result; and extra unemployment bene ts are ending. The Center provides both in- kind (food, toiletries etc.) and nancial assistance, and their resources are stretched extremely thin to meet the community’s needs. The Club has three primary areas of activity: supporting the Help & Hope Center and Crisis Center; maintaining the Serenity Garden in The Village and the Tweet Kimball Memorial Garden at Cherokee Ranch & Castle; and encouraging friendships to bloom in The Village. To learn more about the Village Castle Pines Garden Club, visit www.vcpgc.org. Pines Garden Club planting hope August 2020 Are you involved in a Douglas County organization that you’d like to see featured in The Connection? Email editor@ castlepinesconnection.com