Eleven juniors in the President’s Leadership Program (PLP) at Colorado State University Pueblo recently organized a community event that served more than 170 people in need.
The students called their class group project Project Linking Pueblo. They collaborated with community leaders and brought together 22 local organizations under one roof for one day so that people facing hardships could receive free supplies and connect with services surrounding homelessness, mental health and much more.
The class was led by its professor, Steven Trujillo, who is an alum of the PLP and also is the executive director of the Pueblo Housing Authority.
The event took place on Dec. 7 at Crazy Faith Street Ministry, 3100 N. Elizabeth. People in need were able to go through a line of tables to speak to the assisting organizations, pick out clothes and winter gear, and get slices of pizza, all free.
The 11 students who made up the group project were Abigail Blanchard, Nico Contreras, Derrick Downs, Rylie Pachelli, Aaron Roberds, Alex Sedelmyer, Shannon Sheehan, Evan Smith, Lukas Stoltz, Mariah Vigil and Julian Volk.
“We are a very ‘go big or go home’ kind of group and we knew our sophomore year when we were first presented with this that we’d have to do this for our junior year, that we wanted to do something that would directly impact the lives of Pueblo,” Vigil said.
During the research phase, the class attended a Rotary meeting where they met Jeremiah Arellano of Minnequa Works Credit Union, who became influential for the class. Arellano and his organization were able to secure donations that allowed the class to make 240 drawstring bags that contained supplies such as a reusable water bottle, snacks, hand warmers, first aid kits and more.
Every individual that came to the event received one of these bags. Many of the organizations brought hygiene packages and other supplies to provide in addition to the supplies that Project Linking Pueblo was giving out.
The class received more than 3,000 pounds of food and drink donations from Care & Share. The class also received two truckloads of jackets, blankets, gloves, hats and pillows from Praise Assembly of God in Pueblo.
According to the college students, 10 people filled out a housing application at the event as well.
“This project kind of struck a chord with me. It touched home,” said Downs, who shared his personal story about facing hardship after returning from his service in the military. He struggled with alcohol and substance abuse. He talked about living on the streets for 18 months and spending some time in jail. After spending some time in a veteran’s treatment court program, he was able to meet many of the organizations that were present at the project’s event.
“I was one of the people that we helped (at Project Linking Pueblo). Had they had an event like this back then for me to come through the line and say, ‘Hey, I need help,’ it could have changed my outcome,” Downs said.
Originally, the class was hoping to get the city bus fees waived so people could get to the event for free, but they were unable to get that approved. However, Crazy Faith Street Ministry had a van that the class was able to use to drive throughout Pueblo and pick up people to take them to the event.
Many of the students were touched by the personal stories they heard and the people they interacted with during the event.
“There was a gentleman that came in who was looking for a new pair of jeans, but we didn’t have anything in his waist size. So I asked him if he needed a belt, and he said yes, and without knowing that we had any belts, I just took mine off and gave it to him,” Volk said.
Vigil recalled helping a woman search for a new pair of shoes and when the woman found a pair of purple Sketchers, the woman’s face lit up with joy. She immediately put them on and started crying.
“She had actually showed us the bottom of her shoes and the soles were completely gone. She was basically walking around barefoot, and it really was just eye-opening to see the little things that we take for granted are genuinely life-changing for these people because now she’s able to walk to more resources that she needs,” Vigil said.
In addition to the event that was held this December, the students worked together to make an online resource directory. This website is aimed to bring all the resources together in a more easily navigable way. The students also want to give power to the organizations through providing them with an email where they can send timely updates.
According to the students, some of the problems they recognized when working on their project was that local organizations don’t have up-to-date information on other organizations because not all of them are in the loop together. Therefore, the purpose of the online directory is to give a space for these organizations so they can update their information in real time, which can allow for more efficient referrals.
“What this allows organizations to do is not waste that person’s bus pass, not waste that tank of gas that might be the last one that they have, and we really wanted to do it in a way that was easy to read for the organizations and easy to read for the people as well,” Smith said.
The online resource directory is still being worked on by the students but is accessible to the public at puebloresourcedirectory.com. The class plans on speaking to the Pueblo Housing Authority for any future plans on other city entities taking over the project.
The students extended their gratitude to many other individuals who assisted them throughout their project, including Tammy from Crazy Faith Street Ministry, Kim Bowman (executive director of Posada of Pueblo), Zach Swearingen (Pueblo County commissioner, District 3), and Lexi Romero Stewart (Community Commission on Housing and Homelessness facilitator).
