Metro CareRing is a non-profit emergency food pantry providing individuals and families with food, bus tokens, and toiletries and funds for utility assistance, work tools, and identification documentation. Utilizing over 150 volunteers and six paid staff, Metro CareRing serves approximately 30,000 people each year - including 15,000 children. Metro CareRing strives to create a “ring of care” around the people in the community needing emergency assistance.

About one third of the households receiving services at Metro CareRing are considered “working poor”: they are working, but do not earn enough to meet their basic needs. Over one third is on fixed incomes, and while their incomes never change, the cost of living in Denver continues to rise. Other clients have experienced a financial setback, such as unemployment, loss of a family member, or medical emergency. Many have physical or mental disabilities and cannot work. Most have little or no money for food, clothing, child or health care, or transportation.

• Provide bags of food, toiletries and work-related resources to meet immediate needs.
• Provide a listening ear and short-term solutions to current situations.
• Educate and mobilize the community to affect long-term solutions to hunger, poverty and homelessness.