August 23, 2022 |
Needy travelers will no longer be stuck out in the cold thanks to St. Christopher’s Highway of Carbon County. The organization is new.
Named after the patron saint of travelers, the program was formed in February of this year by Reverend Bobbe Fitzhugh, priest at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Rawlins, and Rawlins Chief of Police Mike Ward. Although different agencies offered similar services to stranded travelers, Fitzhugh and Ward saw that a lack of coordination between those efforts in Carbon County.
After identifying the need, Fitzhugh and Ward pulled together this community-wide, faith-based collaborative. Together St. Christopher’s Highway provides shelter, fuel, meals, clothing, and transportation assistance for those who may need a helping hand.
Pictured above: Shauna Roberts and Bobbe Fitzhugh. Courtesy photo.
St. Christopher’s Highway of Carbon County was incorporated as a non-profit 501c3. Thanks to a $45,000 grant from the Foundation for the Episcopal Church in Wyoming the organization has been able to put together a network of volunteers, ready to help in any way they can.
The funding will allow volunteers to put together comfort kits. These are large totes containing practical, everyday items, such as socks and toothbrushes. They are tailored for specific ages and genders. They will be distributed to local police and fire departments as well as women’s shelters and the hospital. The contents of these kits are provided by churches participating in the program.
People who find themselves stranded can talk to someone from St. Christopher’s Highway of Carbon County and get help reaching their destination. With the partnership of two local participating hotels, they’ll have a place to spend the night. While clothing, food, and lodging are covered, there is a 10 gallon fuel limit and a $150 cut off for things like bus tickets.
Local residents who are simply in need of these services can also contact the agency. Having all of the funding in one place will help eliminate waste and fraud by keeping track of who has received help and what help was provided.
Chief of Police Mike Ward says that law enforcement is often the first point of contact for someone who needs assistance. The responding officer knows that they can call someone from the St. Christopher’s Highway to get that person the help they need. Having the police involved helps keep volunteers safe. In most cases, the person simply needs fuel to continue on their way and the police department will soon be provided with a gas card to expedite that.
Many churches and organizations already provide aide, such as St. Vincent De Paul, which hands out food baskets to whoever needs them, but St. Christopher’s Highway of Carbon County is able to take all of these separate charities and organize them under one umbrella.
This makes City of Rawlins Public Information Officer Mira Miller feel more confident that her private donations are helping those truly in need.
Using the grant money, St. Christopher’s can set up locations around Rawlins where food and clothing can be distributed quickly, even in the middle of the night.
Despite being a new organization, Rev. Fitzhugh and Shauna Roberts, the fund’s executive director, said that many people have already been helped by St. Christopher’s. They gave an example of two people who were referred to them by the police department because they needed gas.
Roberts told a story of a man who had totaled his car in Colorado while driving his father’s ashes to Oregon. He decided to finish his journey on foot and had gotten as far as Rawlins before St. Christopher’s Highway became involved. He was given a bus ticket directly to where he was going.
Their current scope of providing aide to the needy only extends across Carbon County. They have their sights set on providing a safety net from border to border, along the entire I-80 corridor.
Fitzhugh and Roberts stress that, although the organization is faith-based, they aren’t here to preach to people
Wayward travelers, or anyone in need, can call a St. Christopher’s Highway of Carbon County volunteer at (307)321-6688.
