History

In 1968, the women of Aurora Church Women United noted a great need for a united effort to provide emergency assistance to residents of Aurora. At that time, the group that consisted of seven local churches began collecting food and clothing from their friends and congregations, with churches providing rooms for storage. Receiving guidance from Interfaith Task Force of Littleton, the organization called itself Interfaith Task Force of Aurora. It provided food, clothing furniture, transportation, and “adopt-a-grandparent” and “big friend-little friend” services to clients referred by churches, schools and other agencies.

As the need in Aurora grew, more churches joined the effort and on February 24, 1975, the organization incorporated as Aurora Interchurch Task Force, Inc. (AITF). At that time AITF was supported by 14 churches in donated space. AITF had begun service to the citizens of Aurora in earnest.

By the mid-1980’s, AITF had outgrown the donated space. A two year funding drive to purchase its own building was implemented. With the help of the City of Aurora Community Development Office, AITF purchased the facility at 1553 Clinton Street where it continues its work to serve those in need. The name was changed in 2014 to Aurora Interfaith Community Services (AICS) to better reflect the longevity of the non-profit.

AICS continues to strive to help as many needy Aurora residents with substantive emergency assistance as possible with available in-kind and human resources. Thirty volunteers donate their time weekly. The total hours of all who worked on projects for AICS in 2015 was 6,800 hours. Twenty-eight churches provide support to AICS along with businesses and city and county government. AICS served 9,154 persons in 2015, 302 more persons than were served in the food pantry in 2014.

Currently, Aurora Interfaith Community Services is conducting a campaign to renovate the building for the community. AICS continues to strive to help as many Aurora residents in need with substantive emergency assistance as possible with available in kind and human resources.