Denver Broncos Share Pam's Story

 

The Denver Broncos recently met with FBR staff and Pam, a woman who regularly visits a FBR agency partner for food assistance, to film a short video vignette.  This will be used on The Broncos'  "Be a Champion" website as well as on the jumbo tron during home games in November.  We're so grateful to Pam for sharing her family's story and for reminding us that hunger is a daily problem for so many of our working neighbors.  We appreciate the Denver Broncos dedication to sharing stories like Pam's with Coloradans and encouraging people to Be Champions in their communities.   

CoBank Fights Hunger Nationally

We are SO grateful to be partnered with the generous folks at CoBank.  Check out what they're doing to fight hunger on a national level!  Special thanks to our Board of Director Chair, Amy Diaz of CoBank, for her involvement in our mission of fighting hunger and feeding hope.   

 

 

Feeding America Announces $1M Donation From CoBank
09/2012, The Sacramento Bee

Feeding America, the nation's leading anti-hunger organization made up of over 200 food banks nationwide, is pleased to announce a $1,000,000 donation from CoBank, one of the nation's largest agribusiness lenders. The money will go to help food banks deal with the pending high food prices as a result of this summer's drought and help bring food to those in need in already devastated areas.

The CoBank funds will be distributed directly to food banks in areas where the bank and its affiliated Farm Credit associations have operations including rural communities. Rural communities are among the hardest hit when it comes to food insecurity. According to the US Department of Agriculture 15.4% of the food insecure households are in rural areas.  And for many of those residents, having access to affordable food can be difficult.

"For many people, any increase in the cost of food can have a devastating effect on the family budget," said Matt Knott, interim President and CEO of Feeding America. "And that's the same for many of our food banks - any increase in food prices can result in increased food costs for our food banks that could result in budgets being stretched."
The donation from CoBank will help improve the ability of the selected food banks to expand access to food for children, families and seniors in the communities that they serve.

"One of the unfortunate side effects of the drought has been a growing concern over increasing prices for a variety of food products at a time when unemployment remains stubbornly high," said Robert B. Engel, CoBank's president and chief executive officer. "We want to do our part to alleviate the downside effects of a weak economic recovery coupled with potentially higher food prices, particularly on the poor. We're pleased to be able to underwrite Feeding America with this contribution and support their work on behalf of needy people across the country."

The donation by CoBank is especially critical following the release of new food insecurity numbers released recently by the US Department of Agriculture that found 14.9 percent of Americans - or 1 in 6 - lives in a household that is at risk of hunger. Nationally, that's 50 million people, including nearly 17 million children.

CoBank is a $90 billion cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states. The bank also provides wholesale loans and other financial services to affiliated Farm Credit associations serving more than 70,000 farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in 23 states around the country. CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of banks and retail lending associations chartered to support the borrowing needs of U.S. agriculture and the nation's rural economy.

 

Our friends at CoBank have signed on as one of our presenting sponsors at the Joe and Debbie Sakic Bringing Hope to the Table Celebration for the past 3 years and have agreed to commit to this sponsorship level through 2015!  Pictured above is the CoBank team at last year's Sakic event.   

Little Person Making a Big Difference

Cesar was having a birthday party and rather than accepting gifts for himself, he asked his friends to bring non-perishable food items to donate to his neighbors in need.  He and his mom delivered 93 pounds of food to us on a summer morning.  Cesar reminds us just how great an impact one little person can have.

A Message From Governor Hickenlooper

 

September 1, 2012

 

Throughout September, anti-hunger networks and community providers across the country will be urging people to speak out against hunger in our country.  There are currently around 49 million Americans who struggle with hunger and its vast implications.  The challenges that so many of these people face often go unheard and therefore unmet.  Speaking out against hunger is a powerful action that we can take to help out friends and neighbors who struggle with food insecurity. 

 

Here in Colorado, childhood hunger is a dire and growing problem.  One in every 4.5 families with children in Colorado reported difficulty in paying for food last year.  The lack of nutrition that these children struggle with affects not only their health but their ability to grow, learn, and succeed in school and elsewhere.  Hunger and malnutrition also leads to higher rates of chronic illness, depression, and emotional problems.  It leads to higher dropout rates and lessens children's ability to participate in sports and other health and enriching activities.  Malnutrition amongst children deeply affects their development.  Therefore, it demands our immediate concern and attention.

 

In combating this grim situation, we at the Colorado State Capitol, in partnership with Hunger Free Colorado and Share Our Strength, are more than half way into the No Kid Hungry Colorado Campaign.  This campaign seeks to end childhood hunger in Colorado by 2015.  Colorado communities have local champions at several levels; organizations like Food Bank of the Rockies play a vital role in addressing these issues and helping to connect families with several avenues to ensure healthy and nutritious foods are accessible.  Much has been accomplished and many milestones have been met throughout this campaign.  But more must be done. 

 

No Kid Hungry Colorado has made enormous strides in connecting children to sources of nutritious meals at schools, libraries, churches, summer camps, community centers, and elsewhere.  We are serving a growing number of healthy meals to children year round as well as educating them and their families on how to eat healthier.  Furthermore, we have engaged several layers of outreach to provide easier access to federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  No Kid Hungry Colorado is actively striving to make it easier on families to obtain a healthy meal for their children and improve the well-being of their entire family. 

 

We in Colorado firmly understand the notion that one cannot look at the three issues of hunger, housing, and literacy separately.  These three issues are interconnected and inseparable.  Therefore, for the first time this past summer, we sent trained volunteers to various summer food sites to serve as a resource guide for families that may be eligible for federal and state benefits.  Our volunteers were able to assist families by making them aware of certain benefits, directing them towards applications, and in some cases, even sitting down with them to help begin an online application.  By connecting people with housing and food assistance, we are simultaneously stimulating the economy as well.  The Food Resource and Action Center reports that for every one dollar a SNAP recipient spends, there is an economic benefit of $1.73.  We are very proud of the successes that this new program was able to achieve and look forward to building on these successes in the future. 

 

Although our efforts have been fruitful, there is still much more that needs to be accomplished.  Participating in Hunger Action Month is one of the many ways that we can keep this conversation going so that communities can come together to address the issue.  By committing our voices to this cause throughout the month of September, we can unite to create positive change surrounding this critical problem.  

 

Governor John W. Hickenlooper  

Produce, Produce, Produce!

The United States Department of Agriculture recently awarded a Senior Farmer's Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) grant to the Colorado Department of Human Services to provide fresh produce for 1,000 low-income seniors.  These groups teamed up with FBR on August 18 to distribute locally grown fruit stand vegetables from local growers to Colorado seniors as a result of this first time grant.  In 2011, 51 State agencies received grants to operate the SFMNP. We were thrilled to be added as a recipient this year.  Nutrition education and information was also provided to senior recipients, encouraging seniors to improve and expand their diets through produce items.  

 

Included in each box was watermelon, cantaloupe, two cucumbers, yellow squash, green peppers, head of cabbage, three one pound bags of carrots, one three pound bag of onions, six ears of corn, one acorn squash, a five pound bag of potatoes, six peaches and one bundle each of green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce and fresh spinach.     

 

It was awesome to see so many of our neighbors in need being provided with healthy produce that is so often too expensive to purchase!  We hope to receive this grant again next year! 

A Tour of Food Bank of the Rockies

Have you toured our facility?  If not, many people don't have a clear picture of what exactly happens behind the scenes at our Denver warhouse.  We'd love to tour you in the future, but in the meantime, the staff at FBR is thrilled to invite you a glimpse inside our world of fighting hunger and feeding hope!  Check out this AWESOME video from our friends at Black Diamond Media Productions!  It's worth 3 minutes - we promise!

Check out the video HERE! 

 

2 Weeks and Counting!

We've been busy busy with all things Sakic this week!  With Joe's celebrity golf tournament and the Joe and Debbie Sakic Bringing Hope to the Table Celebration approaching (2 weeks from today), we've been in event mode.  Our CEO, Kevin Seggelke was joined by presenting sponsors, RBC Wealth Management and CoBank on Channel 2's "Colorado's Best" on Tuesday morning.  Check out their interview below. 

Colorado's Best Interview

This morning, Joe sat down with Channel 2's Tom Green and FOX 31's Melody Mendez to discuss details of the dinner event (and of course his recent induction into the Hall of Fame).  We're thrilled with ticket sales for this year's event and would love to add more guests to our most exciting event yet!  Joe Sakic, Hazel Miller, Jake Schroeder, comedian Craig Shoemaker, Paul Stastny, live and silent auction, delicious food, libations....a rather fabulous Friday night on the town! 

FOX 31's Interview with Joe
Colorado's Own Channel 2's Interview with Joe

 Visit our web site to purchase tickets today! Every ticket purchased will provide 1,000 meals to Colorado kids!  Thanks to RBC Wealth Management, CoBank, 104.3 The Fan, FOX 31 and Colorado's Own Channel 2 for sponsoring this year's events 

Season to Share Provides Hope

Once again, we're thrilled to announce the FBR recently received a $50,000 gift through Denver Post Charities, a McCormick Foundation Fund.  A record-breaking $2,820,000 was distributed to 65 Denver-area nonprofits with funds raised through this year's Season to Share campaign.  Since 1992, this program has raised charitable donations that are matched and disbursed to local nonprofit organizations serving our neighbors in need:  low-income children as well as those who are homeless, hungry or in need of medical care.  Funds are raised through reader, community and corporate donations and each dollar donated is matched at 50 cents by the McCormick Foundation.  The Denver Post and McCormick Foundation pay all administrative and promotional costs, allowing 100% of donations, plus the match, to go directly to charitable organizations. 

In total over the past 20 years, more than $32 million improving the lives of those in need.  Food Bank of the Rockies will use its Denver Post charities funding to support our Fighting Hunger Feeding Hope program in Metro Denver.  THANKS to everyone who made this outstanding gift possible!   

Noble Energy STEPS UP!

Our warehouse was abuzz last week when Noble Energy arrived with 76 energetic and motivated volunteers!  It's not every day we get groups that large, so we were eager to get them working!  And that they did.  Not only did they volunteer from 8:30am to 3:00pm, they also gifted us with a generous check for $20,000, which will provide 80,000 meals to our neighbors in need.  This is on top of the $20,000 they donated last year! 

The group of 76 employees divided up into teams and created a competition of sorts during their volunteer time.  This created a lot of added energy and laughter throughout the day.  See below for a break out of their teams. 

 How awesome is Noble Energy?  We're so grateful to our friends for ALL they do.  They truly go above and beyond in making a difference in our communities.   

 Team Blue!

 Team Green!

 Team Orange!

Team Yellow!

A Whole Lotta Ears

We shouldn’t be surprised when 70+ Coloradans come together for a good cause,but this past Monday morning was truly amazing!  30,000 ears of sweet corn were picked, bagged, put on pallets, shrink wrapped and loaded into FBR's warehouse in less than 3 hours!   This would not have been possible without all of the volunteers involved on both ends.  In additional to over 70 volunteer pickers, we want to thank everyone listed below for their involvement in providing this awesome source of summer food to our neighbors in need! 

Bruce Postovit, Farmer Mike Kosman, Monsanto Vegetable Seeds, CPS, Ronnie Graff / CHS / Bruce & Amy,  CHS, Pope Vegetable Farm and Simplot

Mini Golf Provides 2 Tons of Food

How do you turn two tons of nonperishable food into a corporate, team-building exercise?  Just ask the creative and industrious folks at Universal Lending Corporation. About 250 Universal Lending employees convened for an annual meeting and decided to do more than talk shop and set new corporate goals. Instead, they held a team-building exercise – make a miniature golf course out of cans of food, which were then donated to Food Bank of the Rockies.

On the day of the event, employees were let in on the meaning of all that nonperishable food. They were challenged to design and build a 30-hole mini golf course out of the food items which would afterwards be donated to Food Bank of the Rockies in celebration of ULC’s 30 Year Anniversary. After the mini golf course was designed and built, teams played a 9-hole round of golf.

While prizes were awarded to employees, the real pleasure came in boxing up the food and loading it on Food Bank of the Rockies’ truck. When all was said and done, ULC contributed 4,000 pounds/2 tons of food to the Food Bank, which produced 3,125 meals for neighbors in need.

Volleyball Club Donates 3,500 Pounds of Food

Generous Coloradans organize and donate food to us through food drives all year round. SUV's will pull up to our front office and unload box after box of food.  A family and their children will bring a bag of food they picked out at the grocery store. Or a company will organize a drive that produces thousands of pounds of food and our trucks will go out and pick it up. Folks never quite know how much food will be collected when they organize a drive, so we love seeing the results of people's hard work and creativity. Example...the Juggernaut Volleyball Club out of Wheat Ridge!

This competitive volleyball group has 15 teams, 149 players and approximately 20 coaches/staff members. This year the club's Parent Advisory Committee suggested that the club take part in community service. One member mentioned doing a food drive for us and the idea started taking shape quickly. The drive ran from April 9-April 21. The first week the player groups were encouraged to organized team competitions. During those two weeks, players would arrive with food, check in for weigh in and collection. During the two weeks they sent email updates to all families, added posts on Facebook and posted team status information throughout the club. They're a competitive club so adding competition into the mix was a motivator!

We're excited to report that this group called us a couple weeks back, asking if we could send a truck out to pick up the food collected. They filled up an entire garage, bringing their poundage total to approximately 3,500 pounds! We were thrilled with the success of this first time food drive. It's amazing what can be accomplished when our community works together. THANKS for all your hard work Juggernaut Volleyball Club! 

Announcing National Senior Month

We have a heart for Seniors at Food Bank of the Rockies.  This population of our neighbors is so often forgotten and invisible.  Many seniors reside in apartment home settings.  Others are home bound and aren't able to get out and about very easily.  So many of our senior neighbors struggle to make ends meet and unfortunately, that struggle often includes food insecurity. 

May is National Senior Month.  What a perfect opportunity to highlight a group of people who have wonderful stories to tell and needs that FBR and our community can help meet.  FBR and Ameristar Casino Black Hawk have partnered over the past few years to provide senior clients with Totes of Hope-Seniors.  This program provides monthly bags of healthy food items, including produce, canned fruits and vegetables, pasta sauce, dried milk etc. to over 10 senior high rise sites around Denver.  Many of these sites are Volunteers of America sites, which has been a fantastic partnership for FBR.  We thoroughly enjoy visiting these sites and chatting with seniors who benefit from the Totes of Hope program.  It's heart warming and also so difficult to learn of medical difficulties that have brought them to a place of needing food assistance.  Or hearing of loss of loved ones and the inability to make ends meet after that loss.  There are so many stories to be told and so many opportunities to give back to these folks. 

Check in this month for videos, photos and personal testimonies of just a few of the thousands of Colorado seniors who find themselves reaching out for help.

Meet Merrill. He explains that he couldn't afford to keep his home and now lives in a high rise through Volunteers of America. After paying rent, there isn't much left over. And so he doesn't eat very much.  He's so grateful for the Totes of Hope-Seniors program, bringing totes of healthy food to his building every month. We don't think Merrill should have to worry about where his next meal is coming from.  What do you think?
 

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!