TELLURIDE – For over two decades, the nonprofit Angel Baskets organization has filled holiday pantries and empty spaces beneath Christmas trees for San Miguel County families in need. The organization recently spread its wings, and now is providing year-round assistance with its recently established San Miguel Regional Food Bank.

“We saw a need in the middle section of this community, for the people who don’t qualify” for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, “or for other government programs,” says Angel Baskets Food Bank Director Angie Petersen. “Social Services came to us and said, ‘You understand the need. Can you run a food bank?’

“As a nonprofit,” she says, “we could fill that niche.”

The Food Bank opened on April 3, and during its first three months has helped feed more than 50 individuals each month (half of those helped have been children.) Petersen says that the currently tumultuous economic climate has “put people in dire straits who normally wouldn’t be,” making the new Food Bank a vital new dimension of the local charitable community.

And while there is a mounting need for a variety of Angel Baskets services lately (in addition to its holiday program, the organization also provides school supplies for low-income kids), Petersen says that the current atmosphere of steadily drying-up financial resources hasn’t effected Angel Baskets’ donations. “On the donations side, we haven’t seen a lack of giving,” she says. In comparison, Ouray County’s Food Bank recently made a big push for donations, since the shelves there had started looking bare.

The nature of San Miguel County’s Food Bank, as what Petersen calls “a truly collective community endeavor” supported by all the town’s churches as well as the Angel Baskets nonprofit organization, has helped the new local institution grow roots on a solid foundation. Further helping to insure the continuation of the program: New and creative funding options, which Petersen has begun to explore.

“Our community has always given so much, but especially in these lean times, it’s important to us to not have to rely on individual donations as much,” Petersen says. In an effort to transfer the burden of maintaining a well-stocked local Food Bank from the shoulders of local citizens alone, Petersen and the Angel Baskets board of directors have sought funding through grants. Thus far, the San Miguel Regional Food Bank has received grants from the Faraway Foundation, Denver Fund, and Good Neighbor Foundation, as well as financial assistance from San Miguel County.

“Our food bank is stable,” Petersen reports. She adds, however, that Angel Baskets would like to forge stronger bonds between its Telluride food bank and others in San Miguel County. Petersen, who visited the Nucla/Naturita Food Bank last week, reports it needs some bolstering; she says Norwood’s Food Bank (which, as a Commodities Food Bank offers only surplus items distributed by the government) could also use more support.

“We plan to work together to make a stronger foundation for this program regionally,” Petersen says.

While the shelves at the San Miguel Regional Food Bank are currently well-stocked, Petersen says some areas still need shoring up. Specifically, hygiene products (toothpaste, soap and toilet paper), as well as dish soap and laundry detergent, are always in high demand. Baby products like diapers, wipes, and especially infant formula (due to its new breastfeeding initiatives, WIC no longer provides formula for mothers) are also needed, both at the San Miguel Food Bank and at the outposts in Nucla/Naturita and Norwood. And volunteers are also always welcome.

“We are definitely out there searching all the avenues we have, in an effort to sustain the needs that exist in our community,” Petersen says of the new San Miguel Regional Food Bank. “Especially in the era we’re in, we want to know what the basic needs are – whether it’s food, school supplies, or holiday support – and continue to search out new ways to provide those things, without the full burden being on the individuals in our community.”

The San Miguel Regional Food Bank is open Tuesdays and Fridays from 4-6 p.m., located at 335 W. Colorado Ave. (side entrance, behind Needle Rock Fiber Arts.) Those needing assistance need only provide their name, addresses and number of children in the family; there is, however, a once-a-month limit per family. People wanting to drop off donations can also do so during those hours.

With the beginning of the school year looming, Angel Baskets’ school supplies program is also forging ahead. For the last few years, Angel Baskets has provided local low-income kids with backpacks outfitted with needed school supplies.

To contribute, look for the Angel Baskets’ School Backpack booth, where you can “adopt” a backpack, at Telluride Sports’ upcoming Blizzard Sale.