This is one of a series of stories about the nonprofit agencies that receive money from The Gazette/El Pomar Foundation Empty Stocking Fund campaign that runs through Jan. 20.

Two agencies in Colorado Springs, The Home Front Cares and Partners in Housing, work hand in hand as they each serve a specific niche in the community and help prevent homelessness.

“We are each able to fill a gap where there is one in the community,” Christina Webb, Development Director at The Home Front Cares said of their relationship with Partners in Housing. “If a client doesn’t qualify for our assistance, we may refer them to Partners in Housing.

According to its website, “The Home Front Cares provides emergency and responsive support and grants for Colorado’s military members, veterans and their families, who have been impacted by service to our nation.”

The Home Front Cares works specifically with military and veteran families in Colorado Springs, Webb said. They provide direct financial assistance with rent, utilities, car payments and repairs.

“I think specifically because we are working with that veteran population, that’s our niche within the community,” Webb said. Last year Webb said that The Home Front Cares provided $400,000 in direct financial assistance for military families and veterans.

According to Webb, when The Home Front Cares started, they just served active duty members.

“We’ve seen the needs change over time,” she said. Now 99.9 percent of its clients are veterans.

“The majority of our financial assistance goes to prevent homelessness for these families,” Webb said.

The Home Front Cares is very responsive to clients. It can process a check within 24 to 48 hours.

Where Home Front Cares provides financial assistance, Partners in Housing provides housing.

According to the Partners in Housing website, “We give homeless families hope and opportunities, providing one-year transitional housing and supportive services, so they can become self-sufficient.”

“We are the only nonprofit in town that has 60 transitional units,” said Dianne Reitan, Development Manager for Partners in Housing. Most of these units serve single mothers and their children. The agency is also trying to help the Colorado Springs community understand who is homeless.

“The largest and the fastest growing demographic in homelessness is single moms and kids,” Reitan says. That is where Partners in Housing comes in to support their niche.

In addition to housing, Partners in Housing provides a donation room where the community can donate clothes and more for their clients at no charge. Partners in Housing will even come and pick up gently used mattresses.

According to Reitan, most of their clients are referred to them by other organizations.

“They stay with us for one year,” she said. There are housing units all over town and the donation room allows the residents to furnish their homes. Mothers can collect what they need and then when they have graduated the program, they can keep everything within their unit.

The program enables the women to establish a rental history, work on credit issues, learn life skills, budget skills and more.

Roughly 120 Colorado Springs Utilities customers are still without power Thursday morning after an early morning crash in southeast Colorado Springs. (Courtesy KKTV)