October is often celebrated with false frights and jump scares, but when essential resources start to run low, it can become truly frightening. Accessibility, another core value of coworking, is essential to maintaining sustainability, both for individuals and for businesses.
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Fortunately, when things get scary, there are several indispensable organizations based in Fort Collins that specialize in making sustainability more accessible to the community. This guide highlights a few of our favorite sustainability heroes that help keep Fort Collins residents moving forward.
Food and clothing
When our basic needs like food and clothing are threatened, the world can feel like a very lonely place. Organizations that help to meet those needs do so much more than feed and clothe the people who turn to them. They help give them the strength and confidence to thrive.
Vindeket Foods
400 Delozier Drive,
Fort Collins, CO 80524
Vindeket Foods is a non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing good food from local grocery stores, farms, and restaurants and putting it into the hands of Fort Collins residents.
Volunteers at Vindeket quickly and efficiently gather perfectly good food and bring it to their warehouse style “store” to pass it on to anyone who stops by, at no cost. While donations are always appreciated, they are never required, and unlike government funded food rescues or charities, no income verifications are required.
NCT Recycling
6108 S. College Ave., Suite C,
Fort Collins, CO 80525
NCT Recycling is an essential part of keeping clothing in circulation and out of the landfills. When local donations from communities overflow the storage at non-profit facilities, NCT picks up the load, then weighs, evaluates, and sorts it. They partner with several non-profit businesses in the area, including The Matthews House, Clothing Cottage, and the NoCo Humane Society.
Approved resellers purchase certain lots of clothing online, helping pay the cost of running NCT Recycling. Other pieces are made available to the public though either their curated boutique, a traditional thrift type store, open from 12 PM to 6 PM Monday through Thursday, in the Public Pound Bins, where you can buy textiles at $2.00 a pound Tuesday through Thursday from 4 PM to 6 PM, or at the Sunday Bin Sale, Sundays from 12 PM to 4 PM.
SERVE 6.8
5701 McWhinney Blvd
Loveland, CO 80538
Serve 6.8 is technically in Loveland rather than Fort Collins, but they host resource centers at local churches throughout Northern Colorado, including in Fort Collins, offering food, clothing, and a care team to walk-in customers.
Visit their website to see where they will be setting up next!
Resource and Community Support Hubs
Sometimes the help we need is more than food or clothing. For people with more nuanced needs, shelter, employment, or transportation, a community support hub might just mean the difference between barely surviving and truly thriving.
If you are in need of some support or direction, these wonderful organizations are a good place to start.
Homeward Alliance
242 Conifer St
Fort Collins, CO
Homeward Alliance was founded to help empower those who are experiencing homelessness to thrive. The organization operates a continuum of programs, offering not only basic needs like food and clothing, but also resources like family services, bike repair, employment services, and even free mobile laundry services.
If you, or someone you care about is experiencing homelessness, Homeward Alliance is there to help you navigate the situation.
The Lavender Guild
The Lavender Guild caters specifically to the Northern Colorado Queer Community, offering financial, mental health, and safety services. As an intentional sober space, the Lavender Guild was designed to build resilience and collective power within the queer community .
They help to facilitate community led assistance for essential expenses like housing support, car insurance, or utilities, as well as hosting welcoming community events like Mocktail Trivia Nights, Open Mic Nights, and Skill Share talks.
If you live in Northern Colorado, you don’t have to wait until your fall season reaches the frightening stage. Northern Colorado is all about connecting, supporting each other, and growing together. Reach out to your community, we’re waiting to help.
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Read more about Cohere and sustainability here:
Sustainability Spotlight: Reuse and Repair
*If your goal, like ours, is to create a more sustainable community, these local businesses are a great way to start. In addition, our founder, Angel, is an advisor at the start of a new venture in Fort Collins, the (re)Mall, a coordinated physical marketplace centered on repair, reuse, and recycling. Keep watching, we’ll keep you updated!
Illustration by YuguDesign on Unsplash