Remarkable Women: Carey Adams at God's Pantry
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — It's Women's History Month, and to celebrate, FOX21 News is sharing the stories of remarkable women in our community. We asked you to nominate the amazing women of the Pikes Peak Region for an award and received 99 nominations.
One nominee, Carey Adams, works out of God's Pantry in Colorado Springs. God's Pantry has just about anything you might need from clothing, to food, to household items. If they don't have what you need, they're still going to do their best to try and help you out.
'You can come and pick up clothing, 10 pieces free each month. After that they're a dollar,' said Adams.
God's Pantry operates sort of like a thrift store, except many items are free as long as you're able to prove that you're a Colorado resident. The entire organization is made up of volunteers, including Adams, who dedicates about 80 hours a week to it as Director. She stepped into the role about 20 years ago to stop the popular resource from closing.
'She's always looking for that veteran that needs help, and the families as well. It's just in her heart. She has a heart the size of Colorado,' said Larry Peterson, who nominated Adams.
Peterson met Adams after God's Pantry volunteer and veteran Floyd Cotton passed away last year. Peterson volunteers with the Honor Bell Foundation, to help honor veterans after they've passed.
'It was a hard loss. He didn't have any family… so we tried to send him out with as much honors and dignity as we possibly could,' said Adams.
While making funeral arrangements, they learned that the Honor Bell (located in Denver) couldn't come down for his funeral service. That started Adams on a mission to fundraise for an Honor Bell in Southern Colorado.
'They came up with close to $21,000 for matching donations. So that means we've got $42,000 out of their effort,' said Peterson. 'You know, the VA gave me drugs and they gave me counseling, but the bell takes care of my heart and my head.'
Their work and the bell helps honor veterans at their funeral when they otherwise might not be.
'So hopefully we'll have it Veteran's Day this year… to toll for the first time at Pikes Peak National Cemetery. There's still some more money that needs to be raised, and we're helping out as much as we can,' said Adams.
Her hard work collecting donations and helping others doesn't stop there. She's raised thousands of dollars for many organizations like the Springs Rescue Mission, Catholic Charities, the Rocky Mountain Heroes Foundation, the Mountain Post Santa's Workshop, the Hanover Fire Department, the Hamlett Spay and Neuter Clinic, the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, the Special Olympics of Southern Colorado, and she even sponsored a K9 at the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.
'She's, to me, the most remarkable woman of our town, of our community right now,' said Peterson.
Additionally, whenever she sees people in the military community at a store, she pays for whatever they plan to buy. That's only some of her more recent extraordinary good deeds.
'We don't have a lot of cars, but if you donate and we can get them worthy…' said Adams. '(One man) had waited on the list for a few months and he didn't even really know he was on the list. We teamed up with H&H, we got tires, and a tune-up, and a water pump on this car and we gave it to the man and he's driving it today.'
God's Pantry serves about 125 people each day. As someone who's used a food pantry herself, she says helping the homeless, victims of fires, and everyday people who just need a little support, is a no-brainer.
'We're doing the best we can with what we have, and we're trying to share it as much as we can with as many people as we can,' said Adams.
While they can always use more donations, they also need volunteers to help them sort through all of the donated items they receive. Whether that's for a few hours, one day, or just a couple days a week, they'd be happy to have you.
She says the only donated item they don't accept (and they'll still accept it if you pay the recycling fee), is an old console TV. They'll even come pick up items if you need help donating them.
On April 1, tune in to learn who wins FOX21's Remarkable Woman of the Year award. The winner will have $1,000 donated to a non-profit of their choice and will be added to the running for our company wide, national Woman of the Year award.
For our nationwide Remarkable Woman of the Year award, the 125 local winners will be honored at a star-studded awards dinner & ceremony in Los Angeles. At the ceremony, the winner will be announced. She will be awarded $25,000 for the nonprofit closest to her heart.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Y-S goal: Eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on roads
'Unacceptably high rates' With a goal to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries on local roads by 2050, the Regional Safety Action Plan (RSAP) was presented to the Yuba County Board of Supervisors at Tuesday's board meeting. Taking six years of data from the California Highway Patrol and local law enforcement, combined with information from a 'robust community engagement process,' officials have partnered with Sutter County, Marysville, Live Oak, Yuba City and Wheatland to develop a comprehensive action plan that 'addresses the unacceptably high rates of motor vehicle fatalities in the region.' 'Yuba County ranked eleventh out of the fifty-eight counties in California in terms of the number of collisions resulting in fatalities or severe injuries. Sutter County was right behind it at number thirteen out of the fifty-eight counties,' said retired Yuba County public works director Dan Peterson, who is acting as facilitator between the six entities for this project. 'The intent is to develop this clear, comprehensive safety plan that allows us to identify safety corridors where we need to address safety issues, and also help guide the selection of the safety countermeasures that we incorporate into our projects.' The project originated with the creation of the U.S. Department of Transportation's 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which established the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program. SS4A funds regional, local and tribal initiatives to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries, with $5 billion in appropriated funds for 2022-2026. According to staff, the total budget for development of the Yuba-Sutter RSAP was $1 million, with $800,000 provided from an SS4A grant. The remaining $200,000 is shared by the participating counties and cities. Continued grant eligibility is a major driving factor behind creating the RSAP. 'This Regional Safety Action Plan positions us so we can continue to go after future grants,' Peterson said. 'For example, Yuba County will be submitting a grant application on June 26 to implement safety countermeasures…based on the findings of this Regional Safety Action Plan.' Safety measures were identified through the aforementioned gathered data from 2018-2023. The data used for the RSAP only includes collisions involving a serious or minor injury and/or fatality, said Adrian Engel, principal of the transportation planning and engineering firm Fehr & Peers. Engel said that in the six-year time frame, the number of injury collisions has remained pretty consistent at just under 1,000 each year across the region. About 150 serious injuries or deaths occur each year from traffic collisions in the region as well. The data revealed that broadside collisions are the primary cause of local serious injury or fatality collisions, with rear-ending also being common, especially on highways going into the cities. Unsafe speeding, improper turning, driving under the influence and pedestrian violations were also found to be frequent factors for traffic collision fatalities or injuries in Yuba County. The data was combined with information collected through community engagement. 'We created a safety task force composed of agency staff and public works, local law enforcement, the school district and local advocates,' Engel said. 'We met a handful of times to discuss the issues and use it as a steering committee for greater community engagement.' They also conducted four public listening sessions in Yuba City, Live Oak and Wheatland, and created a website where people could report locations where they experience roadway troubles. 'We like to get out into the community to understand maybe places they're avoiding that aren't showing up in the data,' Engel said. The team then identified several priority corridors in Yuba County for road safety improvements: North Beale Road/Lindhurst Avenue from Highway 70 ramps to Erle Road Forty Mile Road from Rancho Road to Plumas Arboga Road Grove Avenue from Hammonton-Smartsville Road to Shoreline Drive Hammonton-Smartsville Road from Simpson Lane to Avondale Avenue McGowan Parkway from the railroad tracks to Powerline Road Olivehurst Avenue from the Powerline/Chestnut roundabout to Lindhurst Avenue Plumas Arboga Road from Highway 70 to Forty Mile Road Simpson Lane from East 10th Street to Hammonton-Smartsville Road Highway 65 from the Highway 70 divide to Olive Avenue Highway 70 from Yuba River to Seventh Avenue Countermeasures implemented will be based on each corridor's specific issues and needs. 'The plan will start to address these issues at a high level, as well as identifying some corridors at a more specific level,' Engel said. 'Many of the countermeasures that we're looking at in terms of the toolbox will look at changing signal timing, increasing the all-red phase and adding dilemma zone detection.' Signs, road striping, public education and more are included in the RSAP as well, added Peterson. North Beale Road is set to be the first for improvements. Engel said the other corridors will be addressed as they finalize the plan and secure grant funding. 'The safety planning work for all six agencies is happening concurrently,' Engel said. 'We will have a draft plan for the entire region in the fall.' Staff will present the RSAP to the board again at the next meeting with a recommendation to adopt it. 'We acknowledge that this is going to be a long-term effort, but it's definitely going to be of value when we go through and prioritize projects and actually scope those projects to incorporate safety countermeasures in the future,' Peterson said.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Police search for missing Lake County man
PEACOCK TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Police are asking the public for help finding a Lake County man who was last seen Sunday. Jack Albert Peterson, 67, stands 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds. He has green eyes and brown graying hair. According to Michigan State Police, Peterson was last seen Sunday near Irons Road and 4 Mile Road in Irons. He left his vehicle, phone and other personal belongings at home, troopers say. Peterson has Parkinson's disease, MSP said. Anyone who knows where he may be should contact Lake County Central Dispatch at 231.745.2711. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
DC man sentenced for robbing woman, stealing car
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — A D.C. man was sentenced Thursday for robbing a woman and later stealing her car, according to the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for the District of Columbia. Donovan Adams, 31, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in April to charges of armed robbery, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Uncertainty lingers over Dupont Circle's status ahead of WorldPride Parade According to court documents, on Sept. 27, 2024, a woman parked her car in the alleyway near the restaurant where she worked in the 2300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE. As she got out of her car, she saw a black sedan nearby that proceeded to follow her down the alley before pulling up beside her. The USAO states that Adama got out of the car and pointed a gun at the woman before stealing her purse, cell phone, and car keys before getting back into his car and driving away. The woman then ran into her work and called the police. Meanwhile, Adams returned to the alleyway and drove off in the woman's car. Court documents state that, ten minutes later, the woman went back outside and noticed that her car had been stolen. Officers located Adams, who attempted to drive away from police in his black sedan, shortly after. Police searched his vehicle and seized a beige BB gun, the woman's car keys, and three credit cards belonging to the woman. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
