Care and Share food bank in Colorado Springs
By Kyndel Lee-Bates
The entire country knows about the devastation the Waldo Canyon fire has caused in the city of Colorado Springs and people from all across america are giving to help evacuees in their time of need.
Scott Finlayson used to live in Colorado Springs. On Wednesday, he and his crew made the drive from Kansas City to deliver donations for people they used to call neighbors.
"It's just hard to see that much destruction," said a tearful Finlayson. "I was riding my mountain bike four to five days days a week so, you know, that's a second home for me and I know it is for 99.9 percent of Colorado Springs."
Others like Staci Johnson have lived in the areas that were greatly damaged and are volunteering at Care and Share food bank.
"I do have a lot of friends that are still up there and several have lost everything," said Johnson. "That was the thing that I was not prepared for was being at the relief center and seeing familiar faces."
According to Tom Ramirez, the director of agency relations at Care and Share, the food bank's biggest drive on record brought in 130,000 pounds of food. In the last week, the food bank has recevied more than 1.2 million pounds.
"To be exposed to the needs firsthand of folks, talking with evacuees, hearing their stories- to hear those stories is rewarding," said Ramirez. "It just puts a face to the purpose behind what we're doing."
And people from far and wide are doing everything they can to bring some comfort to the victims who lost so much.