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In the News: Food Rescue Alliance and Colorado Springs Food Rescue

Boulder Food Rescue · Oct 29, 2019 ·

Food Rescue Alliance member, Colorado Springs Food Rescue, was featured in this article by Food Tank. The Food Rescue Alliance is growing and currently at 23 member organizations.

A little about Food Rescue Alliance in the article:

The Food Rescue Alliance sees residents as leaders in the development process rather than targets of an intervention. “Food Rescue models enable community-based solutions to take over, decentralizing food access and increasing participation on a city-wide level,” Dansky explains, “Increasing participation at programs increases food access because individuals are more likely to be involved and receive produce if they can give back, and are more likely to set up systems that work for their community if they have an active hand and voice in doing that.” The emphasis on community development is critical as other studies have shown that neglecting community members will result in persistent issues with food access.

Snowy food rescue shift

Boulder Food Rescue · Oct 18, 2019 ·

A couple of food rescue couriers, Kenny and Ezra, take us on a food rescue shift from Sprouts in the Village Shopping Center to a No Cost Grocery Program at the Canyon Point community.

BFR in the News: Behind the scenes Food Rescue shift

Boulder Food Rescue · Oct 9, 2019 ·

This segment was recently featured on Channel 8 News. The clip interviews a member of our rapid response team, Josh McNulty, while on a food rescue shift. It features the behind the scenes sorting process at the grocery store and biking the produce around town, as well as a brief interview with our Executive Director, Hayden Dansky.

Participation Framework Published!

Boulder Food Rescue · Oct 3, 2019 ·

Boulder Food Rescue just released a Participation Framework!

After several years of conducting participatory research on participation in food systems, we wrote this framework to help nonprofits look at their own internal systems and change structures to allow for the people they work with to have a voice at many levels of the organization.

It goes beyond the basics (which are still often lacking – does your meeting have childcare? food? transportation? what language is it in? what time and day is it?) to really seeing how internal structures (and often a time capacity) leave out integral voices needed to make an organization thrive. We believe food access is contingent on breaking down traditional systems of charity work and lines between who is serving and who is being served.

Although focused on food access, this guide is written to support all nonprofits and other human service organizations to analyze their own systems and to better understand how they can become more participatory. We believe that as we all start including the voices of people most affected by our work in the work, access to services will increase, and ultimately, people will feel more affirmed and respected, and will be better supported and resourced towards enacting community change.

It is in English and Spanish and available to download here. Feel free to share with your networks!

We will also be creating a toolkit, hosting a series of workshops, and publishing a report on food access in the upcoming months, so stay tuned!

Fresh Food Connect story: Homegrown produce donor

Boulder Food Rescue · Jul 25, 2019 ·

Written by: Donor Coordinator and Fresh Food Connect Coordinator, Janeè Harris

Vanessa Dayton is a homeowner in Rural North Boulder, and she has been one of the first donors to give her excess urban garden harvest to BFR’s newest program, Fresh Food Connect. She has many garden beds with organic vegetables, fruit trees and herb bushes all across her property. In the back of this beautiful sanctuary, there’s a pond with breeding ducks that regularly lay dozens of eggs. These eggs can catch a pretty penny for friends and farmer’s markets alike, and she still makes weekly donations to this program over the summer. Last year Dayton replaced all of her grass with clover fields as food for the new beehive that she tends to in her backyard.

All of the excess of this naturally sustaining food source is donated to BFR, and this generous donation effort has qualified Dayton’s property to be protected by the EPA from harmful pesticides that might be sprayed in the surrounding area. One particularly toxic and heavy-handed dosing was scheduled to take place right next to her productive pond and burgeoning beehive. If Dayton had not noticed the employee wearing a HAZMAT suit in the yard next door, who knows what

kind of adverse effects would wreak havoc on the delicate colony and ecosystem nearby? The dosing was halted, and authorities were called to assure that Dayton’s home is protected and will stay chemical-free. The neighbor who ordered the most toxic chemicals be sprayed in his yard could face a fine or jail time, and he has conceded to purchasing the more eco-friendly option at a higher cost.

Through the efforts from people like Vanessa combining with programs like Fresh Food Connect, we can make an impact on our immediate environment that ripples throughout the community.

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