Tent City: How we can help

Hundreds of homeless are living along the side of the Interstate in Colorado Springs in what has been named "tent city." In early February, Colorado Springs City Council voted to outlaw public camping, leaving the 300 to 500 homeless people with nowhere to go.

The disaster in Haiti is being named the worst earthquake to hit the island in over 200 years. Students at UCCS are stepping up to show concern and help with issues on both local and global scale.

Along the banks of Fountain Creek near the intersection of Highway 24 and Interstate 25, hundreds of people are living in Tent City – an encampment of people with nowhere else to go. A recently formed organization on campus as well as leaders in the community are making the move to help out.

The Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG) is a statewide organization with chapters at UCD and CU-Boulder and is in its first semester at UCCS. The organization works on issues like environmental protection, consumer protection, hunger and homelessness. 

Tommy Cox, president of the UCCS chapter, expressed, "UCCS needs an activist group where like-minded students can organize and make a difference in their community. The people in Tent City are just like us and need as much help as we can give them."

CoPIRG volunteer Brian Shaw, who has brought firewood and jackets to Tent City, said that dropping off donations was not the only objective in mind. "People who are down on their luck often feel that they are looked down on by everyone else and pitied. We just wanted to have some conversations with them, letting them know that they were still important, interesting people whose stories mattered."

Shaw said that when asked what they needed, people most commonly asked for camping heaters, stoves and a way to wash laundry. Though some people were hesitant to accept the clothes brought by Shaw and a fellow volunteer, he said most campers grew more open once they realized the intentions to be non-threatening. "Not everyone is your stereotypical homeless person with an addiction and no drive," Cox said. "With the economy in a rut, a lot of families can be one missed paycheck away from checking in themselves."

CoPIRG is not the only organization stepping up to deal with Tent City, according to Bob Holmes, Executive Director of Homeward Pikes Peak (HPP), a non-profit group that assists other homeless providers in the city. Holmes told The Scribe, "Organizations all over the city are stepping up to get as many people off the streets as possible, and this includes those in Tent City."

HPP works with members of the community, including Springs Rescue Mission and Recovery Homes to provide housing and other basic needs to the homeless of Colorado Springs. In the last two weeks, HPP has helped fifteen to twenty people get off the streets and into their former homes or motels, according to Holmes.

In response to the passing of last week's "No Camping Ordinance," which bans camping within city limits, Holmes said, "I supported it. People argue that allowing them to live there is compassionate; I find it to be unacceptable. We should not be allowing people to be living in freezing cold and their own waste without basic needs."

Holmes also cautioned community members to refrain from making visits. "If people want to help they should stay out of the camping areas. They are dangerous. The best thing to do is write a check to somewhere like Care and Share or the Colorado Springs Rescue Mission, organizations who are already trained and aware of what to do in such situations."

Those interested in getting involved on campus should keep an eye out for upcoming events, said Cox. CoPIRG will be holding a Penny War fundraiser for the dorms to help raise funds in March, and in April will be teaming up with Kappa Sigma's "Night without a Home" sleep-out, where CoPIRG will host the media in an effort to raise homelessness awareness in the community.