“Just look at me now.”
When Jacqueline says those words, there is joy in her voice, but also disbelief.
Not long ago, Jacqueline was struggling to survive. After years of prostitution, addiction, and instability, she found herself trapped in a toxic relationship and without much hope for something different. Like many people on East Colfax, she carried deep poverty of circumstance, but also poverty of soul: loneliness, shame, fear, and the belief that change might not be possible.
Her story began to shift because someone simply invited her in.
A Family Room member at Jesus on Colfax told Jacqueline about a place where she could find consistency, belonging, and people who genuinely cared. At first, she came for meals and community. But over time, relationships replaced fear. Staff and volunteers learned her name. They listened to her story. They believed she was capable of more.
Eventually, Jacqueline joined Crew, a leadership and responsibility program where participants help run our Family Room and grow in teamwork and ownership. Through a partnership with Mile High Workshop and consistent support at Jesus on Colfax, Jacqueline found stability, community, and purpose. She is getting plugged into one of our partner churches and growing in her walk with God. Today, she is sober, thriving, and working full-time.
At Jesus on Colfax, we often say that every meal represents a relationship, and every relationship can become a pathway to transformation.
For the last ten years, Jesus on Colfax has been serving neighbors living in poverty on East Colfax by showing up, loving people, building relationships, and cultivating well-being. We believe that lasting change happens through consistent presence and practical pathways forward.
That work begins with outreach. Every week, our team walks motel hallways and streets, building trust with neighbors who often feel forgotten. We bring meals, supplies, prayer, and conversation, but most importantly, consistency.
For many, the next step is the Family Room, our drop-in center where up to 200 people a day find community, practical support, classes, meals, and belonging. Here, individuals can take steps toward greater well-being through mental health classes, budgeting, recovery support, life skills, resource navigation, and connection with others who know their names.
For those ready for deeper change, we launched the RISE program, a residential job-skills and recovery program that provides housing, structure, discipleship, counseling, and employment readiness. Participants gain practical work experience through our social enterprise, Jubilee Roasting Co., while building rhythms that lead toward long-term stability.
But none of this happens alone.
In January 2025, Jesus on Colfax became the Denver Ministry Center for Send Relief, and the partnership has been a gift. Send Relief has strengthened our ability to mobilize volunteers, host mission teams, and meet practical needs as our ministry has grown. Together, we share a belief that communities change when the Church moves toward people with compassion, consistency, and hope.
This partnership is creating more opportunities for churches across Colorado to engage in meaningful ministry that moves beyond a one-time service project and into long-term relationship.
Churches often ask us, “How can we help?”
The answer is simple: show up.
Churches can partner with Jesus on Colfax and the Denver Send Relief Ministry Center in tangible ways:
Serve a meal. Mondays through Thursdays from 12-1 and Tuesday nights when its warm, churches, business, and small groups regularly prepare and share meals with our community. Around the table, relationships begin.
Send a mission team. Volunteer teams help with outreach, the Family Room, practical projects, serving coffee, and creating welcoming spaces for people rebuilding their lives. You can sign up at sendrelief.org
Join an outreach. We have multiple outreach opportunities every week. We do street outreach, motel outreach, and late night outreach for women who are being sexually exploited.
Host a Rally Box. We use an empowerment model where people earn points by going to classes, help take care of the space, and take steps toward their goals. Then they can spend those points in our store which is largely stocked by our church partners.
Support pathways toward stability. Teach a class in the Family Room or RISE, become an Ally for a RISE participant, or adopt a RISE room.
Come and see. One of the best ways to understand what God is doing on Colfax is simply to visit. We would love to host your pastors, leaders, or volunteers.
Jacqueline’s story reminds us of something we see every day: transformation rarely happens overnight, and it never happens in isolation.
It happens through relationships. Through churches willing to show up. Through volunteers willing to listen. Through ministries willing to stay.
And when we work together, we begin to see what becomes possible: people rising together out of poverty of soul and circumstance.
We would love to partner with your church in seeing more stories like Jacqueline’s unfold across our city.
Kayla Horne serves as the Executive Director of Jesus on Colfax and the director of the Denver Ministry Center.
