The Dolores community is in the giving spirit for the holidays.

Two Stuff the Bus food drives in November and December will help to provide meals for Dolores families in need.

About 2,000 food items were donated along with $120. The donations went to the Piñon Project’s backpack program that provides weekend brown-bag meals to school children in need.

Twenty-seven Dolores families participate in the backpack program, said Kelly Proctor, health advocate for the Piñon Project.

A grant from Colorado Care and Share pays for weekend meals for 20 low-income families. The Piñon Project provides weekend meals for the other seven families, plus meals over holiday breaks.

“We depend on the food drives to provide for families struggling with food insecurities,” Proctor said. “The donations stay in the Dolores community and help cover food needs over long breaks.”

Cash is used to pay for special dietary needs and for fruits and vegetables.

Names of participating families are kept confidential. The food is put in backpacks on then collected by kids at school drop-off points or on the bus ride home.

Several businesses and local churches helped out with the food drive, including the Ginger Jar, Dolores Food Market, Dolores School district, bus driver Peggy Caudillo, and local churches.

“We had an amazing response. We heard a lot of our kids are going hungry so we wanted to help out the backpack program,” said Shelli Martin, of the Ginger Jar.

Cherie Cobb, a new pastor for the Johnson Methodist Church, helped to gather the donations with her son.

“The generosity of this community is a blessing,” she said.

For more information on how to donate to the backpack program, contact Kelly Proctor at 970-564-1195.