The doors at Rosa Linda’s Mexican Cafe closed in 2015, but the huge Thanksgiving feast that the LoHi restaurant put on for Denver’s hungry lives on at a Lakewood vocational high school, where the tradition has been updated with organic ingredients and logistical help from UPS.
Volunteers and students led by Joshua Olsen, who teaches an urban agricultural program at Warren Occupation Technical Center, have been working for days in the school kitchen to ready pans of green-bean casserole, root-vegetable studded stuffing, turkey and gravy.
Olsen was a chef and partner at The Squeaky Bean when the began hosting the holiday feast . When The Squeaky , Olsen decided to continue feeding the hungry on Thanksgiving.
It is no small feat following in the footsteps of the Aguirre family, which served an estimated 30,000 Thanksgiving meals to poor people over 30 years.
“It is just ingrained in my heart to feed people,” Olsen says of taking on the daunting logistical task of preparing and distributing thousands of meals in one day. “Everybody is hungry, and that is one of the main things we are fighting in the world.”
On Monday, about 20 culinary students from Warren Tech and other volunteers sliced and diced piles of butternut squash, sweet potatoes and other vegetables and pulled cooked turkey from bones in the spacious kitchen, where culinary arts are taught.
Plastic tubs filled with sliced vegetables were turned into casseroles, and shreds of meat were piled into aluminum pans.
“It is nice to be invited to help people in need,” said Warren Tech chef instructor Joachim Schaaf, 54, as he strained turkey stock for the gravy.
Olsen opened the door of a walk-in refrigerator to reveal more food. Two walk-ins, each measuring 8 feet by 12 feet, “will be full of prepared product by Tuesday,” he said
Olsen, 35, grew up in North Dakota in a family that has close ties to the land and a tradition of volunteerism. His grandfather worked with farmers baling hay, threshing grain and doing other jobs, and his grandmother was a cook on a train that traveled through the state feeding farm workers during harvest.
The Squeaky Bean grew its own vegetables and herbs, and in 2014, Olsen reached an agreement with on school property. He put in place a program to educate students in agriculture and culinary arts, and the farm provided The Squeaky Bean and other Denver restaurants with organically grown produce.
The Squeaky Bean’s 2015 Thanksgiving dinner, called “The Feed,” was prepared in Warren Tech’s kitchen and then shipped to the restaurant in Lower Downtown. Last year, “The Feed” distributed meals carried by a well-organized fleet of vans, cars and pickup trucks to 6,000 elderly shut-ins, needy families and homeless people across the Denver area.
This year, Olsen and his volunteers are preparing all 5,400 meals at the school.
The logistics are daunting, but the use of Warren Tech’s kitchen will make the task easier, Olsen said. “This year, we will really be able to set the tone for the future in that we found a solid home.”
About 240 volunteers, including Olsen’s parents, are involved in the effort.
Sixty drivers will deliver meals to Denver Housing Authority residents and other homes where residents have signed up for the meals, as well as to motels and hotels along Colfax Avenue.
For the first time, drivers will have routes developed by United Parcel Service routing engineers. Olsen’s father, Jerry, who worked for the company for 35 years, asked UPS to help out.
“They will break it down, so every driver has routes that will be as efficient as UPS delivery routes,” Olsen said. “We are thankful for our volunteers and want them to be able to get back home and spend the rest of the day with their families.”
to ailing Coloradans through its annual Pie in the Sky pie sale, contributed pies for this year’s meal.
provided hundreds of pounds of organic squash and carrots, Generator Real Estate gave 100 turkeys, gave marbled rye bread for stuffing and Burnt Barrel Colorado Spirits & Sports kicked in $1,000 for more turkeys. Other suppliers also donated.
In late September, Olsen began contacting the companies to contribute food and other products. He used social media to solicit donations and recruit volunteers.
Each meal costs about $5 to make. Suppliers contribute ingredients worth about $4 per plate, and the $1 balance is covered by cash donations. Last year, the feast needed $8,000 in cash.
“This year, it is down to about $5,000 because we have developed so many more relationships with local vendors,” Olsen said. “Next year, we are hoping it will be zero, or near that.”
Prep work in the massive production kitchen started Saturday. Food was cooked then cooled and stored.
On Thanksgiving, it will be reheated in the kitchen — on hot tables and in 10 ovens. Three hundred meals will be sent to near the Denver Rescue Mission, where they will be served to a group of mostly homeless people.
On Tuesday, Kara Urland, 42, was joined by her two sons working in the kitchen.
“My mom told us we are volunteering to do this, and I said all right,” said Jaxon Urland, 16. “I did it last year, and it was really fun. The reward is helping people.”
“It makes me feel happy because people are in need and I’m helping them,” said his 14-year-old brother, Jagger.
Kara Urland said she told the boys the effort is not only for the homeless — it is for those who are hungry.
“It could be a schoolmate,” she said.
