Bruce Randolph Students in Action

Last year marked the first annual Students in Action: Continuing the Legacy day of service for high school students at Bruce Randolph School. This year, the tradition of service continued.  Last Friday, a total of 750 students, teachers, staff members, and community volunteers went out into Denver and provided approximately 3,400 volunteer hours.  FBR was blessed with 80 volunteers as a result of this initiative!

Some of the services students provided included visiting with military veterans at the VA Hospital, putting together food baskets here at Food Bank of the Rockies, helping with community gardens with the GrowHaus and the Urban Farm at Stapleton, park clean-up in conjunction with Denver Parks and Recreation, decorating meal bags for terminally ill patients with Project Angel Heart, and many others. 13 other high schools in the Denver community participated in their own small scale service projects on this day.  

Jennifer Esquivel, a junior at Bruce Randolph, had this to say about the service day, "The reason why I volunteer is because I like to help others. Whenever I have the chance to volunteer I take it because at the end of the day I know I have accomplished something big. Service is a very important thing at Bruce Randolph School because we like to show how much we care about our community. The Students in Action day of service at our school gives us the opportunity to help people and organizations in our neighborhood. After the service day, I will continue to be involved in service by helping my community and by volunteering at places that need my help the most."

We were thrilled to be a part of this awesome day of service!  Thanks so very much to Bruce Randolph School for your dedication to giving back to your community.

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE

FRIDAY IS VOTING DAY!!!!!!!


One in seven Coloradans are deemed food insecure, not knowing where their next meal will come from. That equals over 730,000 Coloradans.


Helping the hungry in the Denver area is as easy as logging onto Facebook and voting!


As part of Walmart's "Fighting Hunger Together" initiative, the company has been holding a Facebook campaign in April where you can go onto their Facebook site at www.facebook.com/walmartand vote for one of 200 communities, hardest hit by unemployment. Denver is one of the communities on the list! One community will receive $1 million to fight hunger and 20 other communities will each receive $50,000.


We want Denver area food banks, FBR included, to receive some of this money and support. So we're asking everyone in Denver to go on the site this Friday, April 27, and vote for Denver! You can vote every day until April 30 -- but we're asking you to at least vote on Friday! Let's help our Denver area food banks win a portion of these funds!


You can go right to the Denver voting page at: http://apps.facebook.com/walmartfighthunger/profile/1861


THANKS!!!!

A Trip to Yuma Provides....

Last week we took a trip to Yuma to meet the generous folks at CHS.  Cooperatively, the M&M Cooperative, Grainland Cooperative and United Plains Cooperative collected an outstanding total of $23,729.52 for Food Bank of the Rockies in their Harvest for Hunger Campaign.  In just 16 days, CHS employees, customers and partners collectively raised the equivalent of 2.45 million meals, including 652,000 pounds of canned and fresh foods and over $360,000 in cash and grain for FBR and a host of other hunger relief organizations.  Not only did this surpass their goal for 2012, it was 450,000 meals more than were collected in last year's drive. 

M&M cooperative is a business unit of CHS Inc., the nation's leading cooperative, owned by farmers, ranchers and co-ops across the United States.  Held March 1-16, the CHS Harvest for Hunger food and fund drive harnessed the power of CHS retail locations to help address America's growing hunger problem.  THANKS to all those involved in this outstanding gift!  Your efforts will provide 94,918 meals through Food Bank of the Rockies.  We appreciate your efforts so very much and hope to continue this wonderful partnership for years to come!

What Would We Do Without Our Corporate Groups?

It's Friday - the last day of National Volunteer Week.  We have so thoroughly enjoyed sharing our passion for our volunteers with you this week.  While we recognize these members of our food bank family year round, this is just an added bonus to be able to honor their work during a nationally recognized week. 

Today we would like to close out by highlighting our outstanding corporate group volunteers.  We can't even count the number of corporations who grace us with their smiles, energy and kindness day in and day out.  They join us ranging from large groups (50+) or small groups of 5.  These folks walk in ready to work and walk out with smiles.  It's a team building experience to volunteer at FBR and we love that corporations recognize the importance of encouraging their staff to give of their time.  See below for a recent staff volunteer day from our friends and partners at the Aurora Medical Center.  These awesome Coloradans have chosen FBR as their charity partner for 2012 and have already made such an enormous impact on hunger in Colorado.  We're proud to highlight them as an example of what one corporation/organization can do when they unite their staff in giving back to their community!    THANKS to all our corporate groups.  We so appreciate all you do.

Recognizing our Board and Committee Volunteers!

It's day #4 of National Volunteer Week and we're excited to give recognition to all of our volunteer board and committee members. These individuals come to us with diverse skills and backgrounds which help guide our organization . They attend meetings, voice their opinions and concerns and gift us with wisdom, understanding, leadership along with so much more. Please meet Amy Diaz, our current Board Chair and a valued member of the FBR family. THANKS to all our board and committee members for all you do!
 

We THANK our Regular Volunteer Groups!

On Day #3 of National Volunteer Week we would like to highlight our regular volunteer groups!  We recently visited with Debbie, who works for Lockheed Martin and brings us a group of 18 co-workers each and every month.  In addition, she has rallied her personal friends to add to her numbers.  In addition, Lockheed organizes fund and food drives on our behalf each year.  Debbie's passion for volunteering and her passion for Food Bank of the Rockies and our mission is heartwarming and contagious.  It's amazing to us the impact one individual can have in making a difference in our community.  Debbie and her group are just one wonderful example out of hundreds.  Check out what Debbie has to say...you just might find yourself signing up to volunteer today!

Recognizing our GROUP Volunteers!

We've already talked about how vital volunteers are to our mission here at FBR.  Bob is an example of the individuals and families who dedicate their time to helping us get the job done at our Denver warehouse. 

On Day #2 of National Volunteer Week, we'd like to showcase our group volunteers!  These folks join us from churches, youth groups, non-profits, schools, political offices, sororities, social groups...the list goes on and on.  Whether they come once or once per month, we rely on groups to get food sorted, cleaned, organized, orders pulled and loaded, files sorted, documents shredded, mailings posted, projects completed, kitchen orders cooked, dishes washed, floors mopped...again, the list goes on and on.  We interviewed a volunteer from The Junior League (see below) as an example of a fantastic volunteer group. 

THANKS to all our wonderful group volunteers!  We greatly appreciate your support! 

We Heart National Volunteer Week

Volunteers.  They truly make our world go round here at FBR.  If we didn't have volunteers walking through our doors Monday through Friday, all year long, we would not be able to do what we do.  Did you know that over 7,000 volunteers clocked 102,355 hours last year here at FBR?  That's the equivalent of 50 full time staff members.  Take a second to digest that.  It certainly humbles us.  April 16-20, 2012 marks National Volunteer Week - a week we look forward to each and every year.
In recognition of National Volunteer Week, we're going to highlight a volunteer/group each day.  These are awesome examples of the types of folks who dedicate their time to fighting hunger.  The list of individuals and groups who grace us with their presence is unbelievable.  THANK YOU to all of our volunteers.  Whether you've come once or you give of your time weekly, we appreciate you and all you do.  Happy Volunteer Week! 

Meet Bob. His smiling face can be found in our distribution area every Monday and on Saturdays we're open. His passion for fighting hunger is contagious, as is his positive spirit. So many individuals like Bob retire and search for outlets in which they can give back and occupy their time. We're fortunate enough to be one outlet where so many retired folks spend their time. They're a crucial part of our food bank family in every sense of the word! 

100 Kids, 200,000 Eggs and a Bunny...

THANKS to Rachel Kemble for volunteering her time and talents in photographing this event. 

This past Thursday, Colorado egg farmers and students hopped to help those in need by donating more than 250,000 eggs to FBR and other Colorado food banks.  Colorado Chefs and Commissioner of Agriculture, John Salazar, flipped and served omelets to honor Newlon Elementary Students who also enjoyed a visit from the Easter Bunny. 

Colorado egg farmers were proud to help the Easter Bunny this year. As a part of the Good Egg Project, the seven local farms that make up the Colorado Egg Producers (CEP) Association donated more than 250,000 eggs to Feeding Colorado food banks throughout the state to ensure those in need will have eggs in time for Easter. Of the total number of eggs, more than 200,000 were given to FBR.

Colorado elementary schools also joined in this year as part of CEP’s Kids Who Egg-cell initiative, encouraging students to learn about eggs and give back to the community. For every student who completed an egg quiz, one egg was donated to FBR, adding nearly 700 eggs to CEP’s donation. 

The Easter Bunny made a special appearance during the event, where chefs with the American Culinary Federation Colorado Chefs Association (ACFCCA) and Commissioner of Agriculture, John Salazar, flipped and served omelets to honor Newlon Elementary students.
 

“On behalf of Colorado egg farmers, I am proud to recognize and honor the second and fifth graders from Newlon Elementary for their dedication to the community. Together the students made the largest school contribution this year, adding more than 200 eggs to our annual Easter donation,” said Jerry Wilkins, president of the Colorado Egg Producers Association. “These students are learning the value of giving back to the those in need at a young age. Giving back is also something we, as Colorado egg farmers, pride ourselves in as illustrated by our ongoing commitment to the Good Egg Project and our regular donations of eggs to food banks throughout the state.”

At the event, more than 100 students took a Keep Moving/Good Egg pledge to eat good, be healthy and do good every day. The pledge was a part of the Good Egg Project and ACFCCA’s Chefs Move to School initiative. The Good Egg Project is an initiative from America’s egg farmers that aims to educate people about where eggs come from and to encourage Americans to help conquer hunger in the U.S. The ACFCCA recently launched its Chefs Move to Schools initiative designed to educate children about the importance of healthy eating and daily physical activity.

"The need for food assistance in our state continues to grow and this donation will certainly be a tremendous help for those who are working hard to make ends meet,” said Kevin Seggelke, Food Bank of the Rockies president and CEO. “Eggs are an important staple in the American diet, but they are also one of the hardest foods for us to obtain. We would like to thank Colorado egg farmers, Newlon students and other participating elementary schools for this generous gift. At two eggs per person, this donation helped put high quality, wholesome and fresh eggs on the plates of more than 125,000 Coloradans this Easter.”

For the fifth year in a row, Colorado Egg Producers and Feeding Colorado have teamed up to support local food banks and feed the state’s hungry. This partnership in Colorado and throughout the country will help the more than 730,000 people who are at risk of hunger in Colorado. CEP’s donation of 250,000 eggs was divided among five food banks – Food Bank of the Rockies in Denver, Food Bank of the Rockies Western Slope, Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, Weld Food Bank in Greeley and Food Bank for Larimer County.

FOX 31's Dan Daru did a great story (2nd year running)!  Check out the video below...our recap of the action packed morning. 

Join MasterChef Star, Jake Gandolfo, in Fighting Hunger in CO

Check out this one of a kind, can't miss event benefiting FBR. "Roll on over" on April 29th from 2pm-8pm to Mile High Spirits on Larimer and meet MasterChef star, Jake Gandolfo, sample food truck eats and enjoy mouth watering libations from Mile High Spirits. The fun doesn't stop there.  Check out Denver Westword's informative article below and we'll hope to see you there!
Crock Spot and MasterChef contestant Jake Gandolfo hosting a food truck bash to benefit Food Bank of the Rockies

By Lori Midson  Mon., Apr. 9 2012 at 2:30 PM

Celebrity chef Jake Gandolfo will join the Crock Spot and other food trucks on April 29 for a Food Bank of the Rockies benefit.

After last summer's street-food shindigs wound down, there was some indication that the food truck parties -- at least the Justice League soirees, which were at the forefront of catapulting Denver's street-food scene to prominence -- might be grinding to a halt. "We haven't made any decision about whether we're going to continue next year," Delores Tronco, who organized the Justice League parties, told Westword editor Patty Calhoun after the Justice League had thrown its last bash of the season. "It's been a great year; we've had an absolute ball. We're trying to determine if the group has a future, if it will disappear and be reincarnated...or just disappear."

The Justice League is not disappearing (the mob already has five parties on the docket for the summer and fall at five separate locations), but while the first Justice League throw-down won't take place until May 19, Stephen Daniels and Mandy Birks, owners of the Crock Spot, have joined forces with Jake Gandolfo, who was a contestant on season one of Gordan Ramsay's MasterChef, to host a food truck blowout (with a mission) on April 29 in the parking lot of Mile High Spirits, 2920 Larimer Street.

"My wife and I are traveling across American as part of a self-imposed tour -- a culinary crusade -- to benefit hunger-relief organizations," explains Gandolfo, who's based in Santa Cruz, California, and began his tour earlier this year in California before traversing through Arizona and Utah. "It's completely unacceptable that kids are going to bed hungry in this country, and yet people are in complete denial. Dude, take a look around you. Hunger is everywhere in America."

The Denver event -- organized by Birks, Daniels and Gandolfo and aptly named "Rollin against Hunger"-- will benefit the Food Bank of the Rockies, a local hunger-relief organization, and several food trucks, including Crock Spot, Street Eats, NZ Smokin' Guns, Mestizos and Aiko Pops, will park curbside to feed the masses. But there's more to the food orgy than just street grub. Gandolfo will do three cooking demonstrations throughout the day, all centered around sauces, and there will also be raffle prizes, live music and Colorado beers and libations. "We're moving across America to spread the love and raise as much awareness as we possibly can while having a ton of fun in the process," concludes Gandolfo.

Kickoff time is at 2 p.m. and the festivities will continue until 8 p.m.