LiftUp of Routt County has embarked on a capital campaign intended to provide the expanded space necessary to support our neighbors in need, a population that increases with each passing year.

“Right now, we’re serving 1-in-7 of our Routt County neighbors, and it has been growing, and we are seeing around a 20% increase, year-over-year,” said LiftUp Executive Director Sue Fegelein. “We just don’t have the room right now, and we want to serve everybody with dignity and make sure they have confidentiality when they need that.”

One of those neighbors, Melina Bricker, understands firsthand the importance of LiftUp of Routt County and what it means to be offered a helping hand.

Bricker has spent her entire adult life working in human services and education. Her husband, a retired member of the military, lives with long-standing chronic physical issues related to his service. But after the couple moved from Washington state to Phippsburg four years ago with their five children, Bricker quickly realized how fast circumstances can shift.

“We found ourselves pretty quickly in a weird spot where we’d both been very high-performing, hyper-competent people who were used to providing service to others — we got hit from all sides,” Bricker recalled.

“We managed to find a little place in Phippsburg to buy, but immediately after moving in the boiler went out, the propane tank had issues and it was already a stretch for us financially. We found ourselves in a spot where we had just relocated to keep our family together … and we found ourselves in this position where we just couldn’t financially make it,” added Bricker.

That’s when Bricker learned what LiftUp of Routt County offers the community. Her family was struggling to put food on the table, searching for ways to pay for the needed boiler repair and juggling mounting medical bills.

Thanks to her experience in human services, she began to explore options and still remembers the moment she discovered LiftUp — along with the courage it took to ask for assistance.

“I think it is really hard for a lot of people who pride themselves on being self-sustaining to ask for help,” Bricker said. “I reached out and just said, ‘I don’t know what you can do, if anything, but this is our situation,’ and I was blown away by the level of compassion. It was such an incredible gift, and I just can’t stop singing it from the rooftops.”

Today, the Brickers are in a much better place. Within a matter of months, the family regained their footing.

Bricker finished her doctoral degree, was hired as Routt County assistant manager in June 2024 and joined the LiftUp of Routt County board of directors, where she now serves as vice president — hoping to give back to the organization that supported her when she needed it most.

“We’re in such a wildly different spot than we were four years ago, and it really is all due to LiftUp,” Bricker said.

This transformation is a major reason Bricker sees an urgent need to expand LiftUp’s facilities at 2125 Curve Plaza on the west side of Steamboat Springs — especially as community members face rising costs for rent, utilities and groceries.

To meet the needs of the community, LiftUp of Routt County is hoping to raise the $5 million needed to nearly double its current space.

The existing building will grow from 10,415 square feet to 19,728 square feet with an additional 1,490 square feet for the donation center, an additional 1,695 square feet for the thrift store and 2,031 square feet for the food bank.

Fegelein said the renovation will also add space in areas that are currently lacking including community support, program support and staff amenities that are slated to nearly double in size once construction is completed.

The area where the food bank is currently located will be torn down and replaced with a two-story addition that will house the food bank on the ground level and provide office space upstairs. The food bank will also be expanded and connected to the building that housed the thrift store so that all operations are in the same building.

“We need more space in the food bank for clients to shop, as well as for food storage,” Fegelein said. “This will also provide private meeting spaces, so our clients can meet with caseworkers as well as do their intake paperwork when they arrive, because we just don’t have that space right now.”

LiftUp embarked on a capital campaign in August shortly after receiving an anonymous $2.5 million gift through the Yampa Valley Community Foundation. The gift will match every dollar the capital campaign raises with the goal of reaching a total of $5 million to complete the project.

In August, LiftUp was recognized under the Enterprise Zone Colorado tax credit program, allowing individuals and businesses to receive significant tax credits for donations of $250 or more to the capital campaign, general operations and certain programs.

The hope is that the tax credit will help generate more interest among potential donors, some of whom are looking to make donations in time to earn tax write-offs before year-end. SnowBowl hosted a concert with local artists on Oct. 1 to boost LiftUp’s fundraising campaign.

Nancy Engelken, interim director of development, said in the past three months the campaign has raised $484,804 in donations with an additional $293,370 in pledges. Her hope is that the project will continue to bring in big donations through year-end.

Engelken said LiftUp hopes to start construction in May. She added that the anonymous funding match, along with the enterprise zone designation, has spurred new interest and additional donations.

“We’ve certainly had a number of people who are very familiar with LiftUp, some of whom have volunteered, and they see firsthand exactly how cramped the current space is, and how challenging it is to be able to serve our community,” Engelken said.