The Firehouse Art Center aims to spread joy and give back to the community with its new program, “Longmont Loves.”

On Saturday, the art center at 667 Fourth Ave. hosted its first Longmont Loves event — a food drive benefitting Longmont Food Rescue. The Firehouse Art Center collected nonperishable food items for Longmont Food Rescue to distribute to local residents experiencing food insecurity.

“The Firehouse’s mission is really about connecting people through interactions with art and making the community a more vibrant and creative place to live,” said Elaine Waterman, executive director of the art center. “I really wanted to do that with the basis of mutual aid.”

People who stopped by the Firehouse on Saturday could also take home some new clothes. For every food item donated, guests could select five pieces of second-hand clothing.

Saturday’s clothing swap and food drive ran from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Less than an hour into the event, the nonprofit had already filled two crates with food donations.

“If we filled four crates, that would be amazing,” said Naomi Curland, executive director of Longmont Food Rescue. “And we’re already halfway there.”

Curland said food donations slow down in the winter since Longmont Food Rescue loses the produce it gets from farms during the growing season.

“It is also a time where people might be in greater need,” Curland said. “We have seen, in the last couple of years, the need continuing to grow.”

The holiday season, she said, usually inspires outreach. An event like Longmont Loves helps people feel like they’re making a valuable difference.

“People want to give around this time of year,” Curland said. “It’s nice to bring the community together in times like this.”

For the clothing swap side of the event, sustainable fashion group Vulture Collective filled the Firehouse’s downstairs gallery with racks of sweaters and shirts, among other things.

“It’s probably close to around 500 pounds of fabric,” said Jessica Shaver, co-founder of Vulture Collective.

Shaver previously coordinated a clothing swap at Sustainable Resilient Longmont’s Earth Day celebration in April.

Shaver said the ultimate goal for Saturday’s event was to get people to bring in food donations, but she was happy to see people leave with clothes, as well.

Waterman wants to turn “Longmont Loves” into a monthly program at the Firehouse, with each iteration benefitting different nonprofits and organizations.

“I really feel like the community is such a huge aspect of what Longmont is,” Waterman said.