Feeding Tummies During Spring Break

We're blessed to have the opportunity to work with outstanding donors, volunteers, agencies, community members and foundations, all contributing to the fight against hunger. One group we're especially grateful for this week is the Epworth Foundation. This group, full of heart and passion for Denver kids, contacted us about a Spring Break camp they organize for 500 local kids. During Spring Break, many Colorado families are at a loss for finding outlets to keep their children occupied while parents work and more importantly, finding way to provide healthy meals during a time when free and reduced breakfast and lunch is not available. We energetically partnered with Epworth in providing breakfast and lunch for 500 kids each day during this week of Spring Break, to supplement the fabulous camp activities organized by Epworth.

We'll continue to partner with Epworth for future school breaks, ensuring these kids won't have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. Thanks to Epworth for reaching out and making a difference in the lives of Denver children and thanks also to the Denver media for outstanding coverage of this important program.

Read the Denver Post's article, summarizing this week's activities. They also posted a fantastic video from Monday's lunch session. 9NEWS did a live feed all morning, interviewing our CEO, Kevin Seggelke.

New Partnership with FoodWorks

We're excited to have recently teamed up with our friends at FoodWorks to provide healthy, nutritious food produced right here in Colorado. 

“We are consistently producing our products every week while training our clients,” said Dr. Jackson Pope, FoodWorks president and CEO. “Getting these large quantities of nutrient-dense food out to the food bank network is a whole other matter, so who better to help us than the proven leader?”

FoodWorks operates a 48,000-square-foot food production and vocational training facility that houses a cannery, packaging lines, processing operations, inventory warehouse and an on-site classroom. Each week, FoodWorks produces 3,000 canned chili bean meals packed with protein and fiber. Upon completion of each canning run, the batch is then divided and packaged at the facility into a 12-can case of 15-ounce cans and into the FoodWorks Combo Pack, a versatile case with six cans of beans and one family-size bag of rice.

The finished goods are shipped to FBR, where we distribute to nearly 1,300 hunger relief partner agencies.  We're excited to support FoodWorks’ operations by purchasing their products to distribute through our agency partners.  Knowing these products will not only help men and women develop job skills, but they’ll also provide nutrition for our neighbors in need makes this venture a win-win for the community.

“Collaboration is the key in serving the needs of the community as all of us can do so much more together than we could ever accomplish individually,” said Pope. “We have always had great synergy with FBR and teaming up together only helps each of us operate more effectively.”

FBR is thrilled to be able to collaborate with FoodWorks in this new venture! 

$97,000 Worth of Colorado Produce and Goods

We were honored to once again be included in Colorado Agriculture Day this year.  On Thursday, we drove to the Capitol building for a sampling of mouth watering Colorado grown produce, prepared by local chef extraordinaires.  Our CEO, Kevin Seggelke, acted as a judge for the participating restaurants.  During the press conference, FBR was gifted with a larger than life check representing over $97,000 worth of Colorado produce, meat, flour and other essential food related items and monetary donations from the Colorado Ag Council. 

Law makers in both houses passed a resolution honoring National Agricultural day.  We're so proud to be included in this outstanding event every year.  THANKS to the Ag Council and all those involved in growing food so essential for Coloradan's health and well being and for gifting FBR with the means to distribute much needed food items to our agency partners. 

Click HERE for a Denver Post's article, summarizing the highlights of the event. 

Holy Huggies, Round #2

We just received a giant tower of Huggies diapers through a partnership with the National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN) and Kids in Distressed Situations, Inc. (K.I.D.S.).  This is in addition to the 2 semi truck loads of diapers we received a number of month ago!  We're so excited to offer these diapers to our agency partners who will distribute them to families who can't afford to pay the high ticket price on an item that is so often a necessity.  Diapers can cost as much as $100 a month and cannot be bought with the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Most childcare programs require parents to provide disposable diapers for their children’s use, so a lack of diapers can keep children out of childcare, forcing their parents to stay home from work.  Some parents try to stretch their diaper supply by leaving the children in diapers longer between changes or by reusing disposable diapers, but these measures can affect the health and emotional well being of children and their families.  Cloth diapers are not a solution because many families are without out easy access to laundry facilities.

This donation was made as part of partnership between K.I.D.S. and NDBN to distribute 20 million Huggies brand diapers to families in need throughout the U.S. in 2012.  To address today’s dire need for diapers, every three months, K.I.D.S. and NDBN will distribute five million diapers, donated by Huggies Every Little Bottom, to more than 90 diaper banks, food banks and other such agencies for families in need across the United States.  Huggies Every Little Bottom was launched in 2010 with the sole purpose to help address the issue of diaper need in North America. Since its inception, the program has donated more than 60 million diapers toward this cause.

We are so incredibly grateful for the generosity of Huggies, NDBN, and K.I.D.S! 

Dine and Donate - Tyler Wiard's Perspective

As the Executive Chef at Elway’s Cherry Creek, I look forward to Denver Restaurant Week every year.  It’s a 2 week period where folks can take advantage of outstanding values for memorable dining experiences around the city of Denver.  Elway’s Cherry Creek is proud to welcome diners to visit us and sample the culinary creations we dream up for this event.  In addition to encouraging folks to participate in Denver Restaurant Week, I’m excited to join forces with Food Bank of the Rockies in promoting their Dine and Donate campaign.

Although most people wouldn’t assume it to be true, hunger is a prevalent issue in our state.  One in seven Coloradans don’t know where their next meal is coming from.  These folks won’t be fortunate enough to participate in Denver Restaurant Week.  During this two week period, we’re asking people to DINE at a participating restaurant and DONATE $52.80 to Food Bank of the Rockies on behalf of our neighbors in need.  We’re aiming to raise $5,280, which will provide 21,120 meals.   

Click HERE to help us reach that goal of $5,280 this week!  Hope to see you at Elway’s Cherry Creek very soon.

$100,000 from Bellco Will Provide....

We're thrilled to announce that Bellco has just announced a major gift of $100,000 to FBR for the acquisition of two produce dehydration units on the Western Slope. The equipment will enable us to dehydrate thousands of pounds of Colorado produce that would otherwise go to waste and distribute it to local residents in need. This program will make us one of only six Feeding America food banks in the country to have such capabilities.

The donation is the cornerstone of a new community partnership with Bellco. To kick off the partnership, Bellco has been collecting non-perishable food items for FBR in its Front Range branch locations since this past December. A team of Bellco volunteers worked to process and sort those donations today and a check for $100,000 was presented to our CEO, Kevin Seggelke, during the volunteer event. This gift will fund the purchase of two dehydration units, as well as the professional kitchen space and equipment needed to house the units.

We are so deeply grateful to Bellco for its generosity as well as its overall partnership.  One in seven Coloradans struggle with hunger. The dehydration units will enable us to provide nutritious food options to our partner agencies that we have not been able to provide prior to this generous gift from Bellco. Our children’s programs will benefit tremendously from these units. Dried fruits are expensive to purchase and will now be offered to more than 2,300 children per week as a healthy snack option.

The dehydrators will be housed in our Grand Junction facility, allowing for close proximity to the farms of the Western Slope. Produce dehydrated there – including apples, peaches, cherries, potatoes, onions, peppers, carrots and tomatoes – will be distributed both in Grand Junction and across the state to share with people in our service area. We expect the first shipment of dehydrated produce in the fall of 2012.

“Supporting Food Bank of the Rockies is our way of giving back to the people of Colorado who have provided more than 75 years of support to our financial institution,” said Doug Ferraro, CEO of Bellco. “With this gift, Bellco, along with our 200,000 members, is able to show our appreciation in a significant and ongoing way, ensuring that the resources in our state do not go to waste and make it into the hands of those in need.”

THANKS isn't enough to express our gratitude to Bellco for making this new endeavor a reality for us and for our neighbors in need!