In the Golden Municipal Court, all defendants must pay a flat $25 court fee. But during the holiday season they are given a different option — bring in $25 worth of donated food goods for the community food bank.
The food drive was started by Municipal Judge Ronald Miller, who said he was thankful the city has agreed to support the program and waive the court fee for more than a decade now.
The food drive does mean a little extra work for those in the court, having to make a trip to a local grocery store to buy the goods.
“But I’d say 99.9 percent of the people don’t object to it, and many, you can tell, really enjoy doing it,” Miller said.
This year, the court collected 120 boxes of food for the Christian Action Guild’s food pantry between Thanksgiving and the end of last week. City employees help move the donated boxes over to the charity, which then distributes the food to those in need.
Audrey Brennecke helps run the pantry, feeding more than a 100 households each month. She said the court’s contributions were a wonderful addition.
“Especially this time of year, when we have so many in need, it’s a great help,” Brennecke said.
Miller said he occasionally has someone in his courtroom who actually requires food donations.
“When I can determine that, I exempt them from the donation,” Miller said. He added that the opposite often happens as well, with the better-off defendants actually showing up with noticeably more than the required $25 in food donations.
Miller said he started the program roughly 12 years ago in Golden and also in a Broomfield court where he was also on the bench. In that time, he said the city of Golden has offered its constant support to keep the program going.
“Golden is a people-city, and this gets people involved in helping other people,” he added.
