CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Inside the Arapahoe County Jail, a unique support program offers hope to incarcerated individuals reentering the community.
“We're helping people get restarted,” said Lisa Ridenour.
Ridenour started Gelli’s Community Fridge in honor of her daughter, Giselle—Gelli, as her family called her—bridging personal loss with community need.
“Giselle struggled as a young adult with substance abuse disorder, and was able to get clean, and was clean for two years, and then life became overwhelming,” said Ridenour.
Giselle ended up passing away from an accidental overdose in 2020.
“It was very traumatic for our family, but part of my own healing process was honoring her life and taking on a passion for the things that she was passionate about,” she said. "She was passionate about social justice, fighting for the underdog, serving other people, and food.”
Her motivation drove her to collaborate with Carl Anderson at the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office to launch a food pantry stocked with food and personal hygiene items.
“Oftentimes, if somebody is navigating or suffering from substance use disorder and they're hungry, there can be a direct correlation to an accidental overdose,” said Anderson.
Anderson added that tolerance levels can change during incarceration, making people even more susceptible to overdose.
The food pantry and harm reduction kiosk together serve as safeguards against these tragedies.
“We hope to have a streamlined opportunity for folks being released from our facility to continue treatment within the community without a lapse of care,” said Anderson.
For Ridenour, seeing these efforts come to fruition provides a full-circle moment, as she now gets to witness her daughter’s impact, creating lasting change in the community.
“I think we all need to know that someone's caring about us and rooting for us, and so if you're leaving and you see that someone's taken the time to think about you and provide food for you and the ability for you to stay safe and not overdose," she said. “That's a beautiful way to get started, right?”
