It all begins with the food.
Of all the challenges Colorado’s needy face in the daily battle for survival, none is more essential than the basic necessity to eat.
No organization fills that requisite quite like the Food Bank of the Rockies.
From its new location in Denver’s warehouse district, the agency distributes more than 22 million pounds of food each year through a network that incorporates 916 cooperating agencies in northern Colorado and Wyoming.
This omnibus agency coordinates government programs, local food drives and public contributions to provide essential nutrition to those who otherwise might not eat.
“For the many people we work with, there’s too much month left at the end of the money,” says CEO Kevin Seggelke, explaining the dilemma of the region’s low-income and homeless.
Along with four other Colorado partners in the America’s Second Harvest network, the Denver organization in 2005 provided meals to more than 425,000 people.
The food bank doesn’t distribute food directly. People who call are given a list of client agencies in their ZIP code.
All this validates the food bank’s mantra: “Fighting Hunger, Feeding Hope.”
From a newly occupied 105,000- square-foot building, Food Bank of the Rockies now expects to do much more. The building contains 80,000 square feet of storage space, nearly four times larger than its predecessor, with twice the critical freezer capacity.
This allows the agency to more efficiently collect and distribute a greater volume of foodstuffs to fill an ever- growing demand. It’s a far cry from a 1978 beginning when the food bank collected provisions from one Safeway store for distribution to a single agency.
That scope of participation now has expanded to include virtually every food retail chain in the metro area, all of which regularly contribute leftover merchandise. Along with numerous restaurants and hotels, they provide nutritious food through a program called Denver’s Table.
An even greater volume of provisions is distributed through the Commodities Supplemental Food Program, a federal initiative for low-income single mothers with dependent children.
A Children’s Nutrition Network provides nourishment through Kids Cafe, serving 2,200 daily. A novel BackPack program meets the needs of hungry children each weekend through 16 local distribution centers. The packs, which disguise the charity, contain provisions selected to keep hungry youngsters nourished through the weekend.
All of this is accomplished with the assistance of a network of about 2,000 volunteers, some of whom donate many days of work each year.
“We have volunteers who have been here so long they know how to run the place,” said Deborah Garrity, director of marketing.
This contribution from volunteers, Garrity said, equates to 24 full-time employees, freeing funds for the purchase of more food.
Food Bank of the Rockies has a simple credo.
“We don’t care what your beliefs are, what color you are. If you’re hungry, we give you food,” Garrity said.
Garrity said each dollar collected by the agency can be parlayed into
6 pounds of food.
Staff writer Charlie Meyers can be reached at 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com.