Celebrating a decade of work here at Food for Hope has led to a lot of reflection and story-telling. I recently talked to a staff member about what things were like in a typical week when we first started operations 10 years ago. Our processes differed greatly from how things are now, and in some ways, things were a bit comical. So I thought I could share those memories here too.
When Food for Hope first began in 2015, we packed 100 bags total each week that went to McElwain & Thornton Elementary Schools. The challenge was figuring out how to source enough food to pack these bags. At the time, we did not yet have a relationship with Food Bank of the Rockies. I also didn’t want to pay full retail for these items since we needed to make our limited funding go as far as possible. My solution was to purchase food at the discount grocery store in Dacono. When I went and told the store what I was doing, they were very kind and accommodating to our large food purchases. At first I thought that ordering enough food for a month of food bags at once was the way to go. The store was very gracious and processed a special order for us. But when we went to pick it up, I realized I had drastically underestimated how many cans and cases a month’s worth of bags would require. The workers at the store were considerate enough to muffle their laughter as we awkwardly tried to stuff large quantities of food into the back of a couple of trucks and SUVs. When we finally made it back to the small building where Food for Hope was operating, it was clear we had no place to store that much food! The boxes and cans were lined up against the walls for a month while we slowly got it all distributed to the community. At that point, we realized we needed to purchase food each week. However, that was certainly not an ideal solution, either. One of our dedicated volunteers, Dick Schmitz, took it upon himself to shop for food with me. He and I would head up to Dacono on a Monday morning to count out the items directly off the shelf. Picture an older gentleman and a clueless young woman crouching on the ground, pulling packs of spaghetti noodles out of the furthest reaches of all the shelves and stacking them into multiple shopping carts. Repeat with canned fruits and vegetables. Repeat again for shelf-stable proteins. Repeat again because we lost count and had to start over. When we were finally done, we would take all our carts through the check-out and load everything into our two cars to go unload back at the church. The time it took to obtain 100 bags worth of food was overwhelming. (And you can see why we created the Schmitz Service Award in honor of this volunteer’s legacy!) After the food was acquired, it was time to pack weekly bags! In the early days, we had 10-20 people who would come to pack the food each week. All the food items were arranged by category on long tables and packed into bags, assembly line style. Then, on Thursday mornings, Mr. Schmitz, another volunteer, and I would pack the bags into our cars to deliver to the schools. Once they were delivered, we would begin the list for next week’s purchases and start again. Phew. I’m exhausted just remembering!
Ten years later, Food for Hope is benefiting from the additional support of staff, food supplier relationships, and bulk purchasing power. On Monday of this week, we were able to receive and process over 16,000 pounds of food! All the items we stocked on that day will go out to 28 locations over the next couple of weeks. And that number is actually lower than normal because of Spring Breaks in the school districts we serve! I share those numbers to celebrate how far we have come. I’m so thankful for the incredible staff who work hard alongside our volunteers to mobilize food to the families who need it. Every step in the evolution of our organization in the last decade has been to provide hope to children and families in our community. Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with us!
Come celebrate with us! Thursday, May 1st at 5:30PM
Join us at the Brighton Armory Events Center to celebrate 10 years of Food for Hope! Get ready for a night packed with food trucks, games, auctions, live entertainment, and nonstop fun. Rock your casual Birthday Bash attire and let’s make this celebration unforgettable! Don’t miss out—come party with us and toast to 10 years of spreading hope! This year, all tickets will be sold individually. Attendees will be free to enjoy the activities in the order they prefer and open seating will be available for those that want to eat together. This is going to be a unique event that you don't want to miss, so reach out to your friends, colleagues, or family and purchase your tickets today.
