Since opening its doors in August 1992, Caring Community Friends has assisted thousands of area residents by providing essential household items, food, diapers, toiletries, as well as school supplies at the start of the school year, snacks and books for children while school is out in the summer, and rent and utility assistance. Come Christmas time, CCF even distributes Christmas gifts.
In spite of the pandemic, CCF kept their doors open. “We have stayed open continuously through the pandemic as a basic needs agency.”
Director Dr. Camille Teale gave the Sapulpa Herald a tour of the facility. Starting in what was once a conference room, the “Shopper’s Choice Pantry” is where “families and individuals come through here and pick the food that they know their family can eat.”
Closer to the entrance are diapers and formula, readily available when walking in the door. “We had the formula shortage so we moved our formula from our Shopper’s Choice Pantry to right at the front door in the lobby so parents can come and get diapers and formula. It’s easily accessible…we always try to break down barriers to entry.”
There were a large number of Amazon boxes along with the food. When asked what was in them Dr. Teale replied, “They have us come and pick up five palettes of either food or household essentials, we never quite know what we are going to get.”
Don’t forget the four-legged family members; Caring Community Friends also supplies pet food!
One innovative idea CCF has put to good use is the idea of something called “homeless kits.” These consist of a plastic bag full of drinks, another plastic bag full of food, and a set of toiletries. If the person has to transport the items without a car, there are heavy-duty tote bags available.
The next room on the tour was filled with fresh fruit and vegetables. “80% of what we typically get is fresh food, fruits and vegetables…There is no limit to how much produce you can take…then on Thursdays we have a drive-through grocery and hand out fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy, and bread, as much as we can that way.”
There are SWAP (Supporting Wellness At Pantries) posters on the walls instructing patrons how often different categories of foods should be eaten according to the color assigned to them. Foods with green tags should be eaten often, foods with yellow tags should be eaten sometimes, and foods with red tags, such as snacks, should be eaten rarely. There are healthy recipe cards available by the front door.
Another set of shelves contained “backpack food for all the elementary schools, high school, and Central Tech. A group will come and assemble backpack food and then the school counselors take it to the schools to be distributed to children who are identified as the highest risk for food insecurity over the weekend.” The next section that was shown held food for the homeless and transients.
According to Dr. Teale, the annual assessed value of the food distributed is a staggering $650,000 with CCF being the Retail Relief Food Pantry for Sapulpa which means the organization “rescues food from stores that would otherwise be put into the landfill. The stores maybe change their inventory at the end of the year, and they donated all of their cereal that they were getting rid of, or the produce and bread that has to move really quickly. They can give to people in need instead of throwing it away.”
“We try to be excellent stewards of the resources, honor that donation, and make sure it gets to people in need.”
Director Teale pointed out that because of the rising costs of goods CCF was seeing an increase of new families to the Pantry that “used to make it paycheck to paycheck, but do not qualify for SNAP benefits.”
“In 2022, seeing the prices go up for school supplies, I reached out to the Ministerial Alliance, I reached out to the Community Partnership, and asked if we could do a combined Back-to-School Bash.”
The last item on the tour was the Community Garden, adjacent to Caring Community Friends.
“We will have big groups come out and volunteer, like a church group, or a sports group, and can do a lot of planting in one day. But daily, it is individuals like you and me.”
Caring Community Friends now serves 300 families a week and Director Teale hopes to grow the organization to eventually offer more services such as teaching proper nutrition.
Except for USDA program food, no food or service is tied to income. Those who need assistance should call 918-224 6464 to make an appointment or go to www.CCFOK.org.
Thursday is Fresh Market Day and no appointment is required.
Anyone wishing to donate his or her time, talents, or money should call 918-224-6464, send an email to info@CCFOK.org, or go to www.CCFOK.org
