Faces of Food Bank: Linda

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes so FBR can feed hope to our hungry neighbors?  From greeting visitors, stocking shelves, procuring food and distributing it through our partner agencies and programs to raising needed funds, keeping you informed, organizing volunteers and carefully allocating your contributions, there's a whole world behind fighting hunger and we'd like to invite you in for a peek. 


We're excited to introduce our "Faces of Food Bank" campaign, where you'll meet a member (or two) of our hard working staff each week. The goal is to give you an inside glimpse of food banking at its finest! We have over 80 employees who perform a variety of tasks, all very different but all vital to fighting hunger and feeding hope in Colorado.


Meet Linda.  If you enter our south facing main entrance, you'll be warmly welcomed by Linda.  Like most FBR team members, Linda wears many hats.  She not only manages the constantly busy phone line, she also refers people in need to pantries in their area, directs visitors and vendors, and assists the finance and human resources departments with clerical needs.  Linda's four kids and five grand kids are her world and she loves being able to help people in need during her day job.  Two of the many reasons Linda lives in Colorado are the zero humidity climate and the awesome Mexican food.
 

   

Please Vote TODAY to restore $4.5 billion

There are decisions being made NOW about the future of food assistance in this country.  We need your help!!!!!!!!  FBR strongly supports Senator Gillibrand’s amendment #2156 to restore the $4.5 billion in cuts to SNAP included in the bill. Any cuts to SNAP will only increase demand on food banks and other charities that are already stretched to the breaking point trying to keep up with increased need. This amendment would help reverse the significant drop off in TEFAP commodities provided to food banks in recent years due to strong agricultural markets by clarifying USDA’s authority to make bonus TEFAP purchases in consideration of states’ needs in addition to market conditions. Finally, it would make important investments in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program that benefits low-income elementary school children.

PLEASE take a couple minutes out of your day TODAY to contact the offices below with the following message!

·       Call our toll-free hotline: 877-698-8228
·       Listen to the preprompted.
·       You will then be connected to your Senators. Deliver this message:
As your constituent, I urge you to protect hunger-relief programs in the Farm Bill. With unemployment still high, many people in our community are still struggling and they need help putting food on the table. Please support Senator Gillibrand’s amendment to restore the cuts to SNAP and oppose any efforts to cut or weaken hunger-relief programs. 

Delores

Like so many seniors, Delores struggles with diabetes.  Thanks to the Totes of Hope-Senior program, she is able to receive food items needed on a daily basis.  This resource helps supplement her pantry so she can afford the more expensive items needed to care for her health.

Carlene

Carlene has a story incredibly similar to so many other seniors.  Her husband passed away, she lost her home, she lost a majority of her income and she now needs food assistance as a result.  Carlene is so grateful for the Totes of Hope-Seniors program and for all hunger relief programs that exist to assist men and women just like her. 

Miyo

You wouldn't know from Miyo's conagious smile and laugh that hunger is an concern in her life.  She relies on our Totes of Hope-Senior program to help fill her pantry each month with items that are often too expensive to purchase.  After losing her husband and dealing with muliple major health issues, Miyo came to a place where so many seniors find themselves.  Not quite sure how to make ends meet. 

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?