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COPE set to deliver Thanksgiving food
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Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE) Barton County is in action this holiday season. The collaboration, which is funded through the Centers for Disease Control and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and implemented by KU Med, will provide 150 Thanksgiving Day food boxes to families in need across Barton County.

Flor Sanchez, a community health worker based out of Heart of Kansas, spearheaded this project.

“My job is to connect with people and families in need of assistance and help them to access the care and services that they need,” Sanchez said. “Time and time again, the cost of food was mentioned as being a hurdle for families and this was a great way for our group to be able to help.”

The group will provide boxes with enough food for a family of six. Each box includes a turkey or ham, potatoes, vegetables, gravy, rolls and a pumpkin pie. They also put together five bags for homeless citizens that do not have access to stoves.

COPE works with numerous non-profit entities across Barton County and reached out to them to find out who they were working with who would benefit from taking the financial strain of the holiday meal off their list of concerns. Clients from Sunflower Diversified, ESSDACK, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities of Southwest Kansas, Central Kansas Partnership-Rise Up, Healthy Families, and Hoisington Food Bank will all benefit from these food boxes. Recipients reside across Barton County in Ellinwood, Hoisington, Pawnee Rock and Great Bend.

Organizations that partnered with COPE include: Heart of Kansas Health Center, Aetna Better Health of Kansas, Dillons, Live Like Jesus Today Ministries and Central Kansas Dream Center.

Though all 150 boxes are already spoken for, COPE encourages the community to come out and see the work that they are doing. Boxes will be distributed from 5-7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 21, from the Anchor Room at the Central Kansas Dream Center, 2100 Broadway Ave.

“The response that we got to this project was overwhelming,” said Callie Miller with Housing Opportunities Inc. She is the COPE lead for Barton County. “There is a deep need in our community for food assistance and we are humbled that we can be a part of helping those in need.”