By 6:30 a.m., people were lining up along Bruce Randolph Avenue outside the Epworth United Methodist Church, despite temperatures in the 20s, so they could get a box of food for Thanksgiving.
The Epworth Foundation has been running the Daddy Bruce Thanksgiving meal distribution since 2003. The annual tradition was started in 1964 by restaurant owner and humanitarian Daddy Bruce Randolph.
More than 5,600 families, seniors and veterans signed up for meals. Some meals were picked up outside the church while others were delivered to people’s homes. The foundation initially hoped to distribute 10,000 baskets, but a cut in sponsorship and a drop in individual donations this year left them ڲ.
“It’s about 20 degrees right now,” said freelance journalist Tamara Banks before boxes were distributed. “But we’ve got lots of sunshine, lots of love and lots of fellowship.”
The crowd lining up for boxes was smaller than years past, which the foundation attributed to the chilly weather. But as the day warmed up, more people arrived. Each box — designed to feed a family of eight — was filled with Thanksgiving classics, such as a turkey, potatoes, yams, corn bread and trimmings.
Eugenia Mays, 58, said she was the first in line when she arrived at 6:30 a.m. She said she got there early to make sure she got a box. Mays has a part-time job but said it doesn’t pay enough.
“I’m frozen but I got me some food,” she joked.
Mays said she was grateful for the meal, adding that it’s “people helping people help themselves. It means that God has people out there to help others.”
Linda McCoy, 69, agreed. She said she’s on a set income and is disabled. This food will help her feed her kids and grandkids for Thanksgiving.
“Denver has always helped people that are hungry,” McCoy said. “That’s the thing about this city.”
The two were among the first 50 to get meals. Those initial boxes were , who covered issues and events in the inner city, including several involving Daddy Bruce. She was killed after being hit by a car in a Denver intersection on Aug. 31.
First 50 boxes at Daddy Bruce Thanksgiving meal distribution are in remembrance of reporter Colleen O'Connor
— Danika Worthington ♉️ (@Dani_Worth)
As volunteers handed out boxes, Kala Green, Chair of the Epworth’s Administration Board, collected donations from volunteers.
The foundation is scrambling to raise enough money to cover all of the meal distribution costs. Walmart cut back on its usual sponsorship and fewer individual donations came in this year. The foundation speculated that it was because people were focused on the presidential campaign.
At the same time, four nearby food banks have closed and more people have moved to Denver.
Green said the foundation had to limit the number of families it could help and how many boxes it gave to outside organizations. Additionally, she said, some families will likely come back to the food bank next week because they couldn’t afford to wait for Thanksgiving before eating the meal.
Church treasurer Juanita Davenport-Brown said Epworth went into Saturday’s event with $129,000 on hand, well short of the $200,000 needed. They have enough to pay Walmart for the food on Monday but not enough to cover additional costs, such as pallets, boxes, bathrooms and a stage for the food distribution.
She said it’s a stressful experience but not an uncommon one. Every year the church doesn’t know how they are going to pull it off. But Davenport-Brown said most years it works out somehow.
“If God wants us to do this, we will get the money,” Davenport-Brown said. “Apparently, he wants us to do it.”
