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Boulder Food Rescue

Redistributing Produce and Power

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Blog

Key updates and mobilization efforts in response to COVID-19

January 16, 2021 by Boulder Food Rescue

Greetings BFR community, our team here at Boulder Food Rescue has been closely monitoring the rapidly changing situation of COVID-19 as it affects communities across the U.S. We’d like to provide you with some updates of actions we’re taking and how you can help us mobilize.

Follow us on social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) or sign up for our monthly newsletter for more regular updates about our work. We are excited to share our journey with you. We can also be reached by email at [email protected]

Donate
Full list of ways to support

February 8, 2021

Check out our February newsletter for program updates and more! To stay up to date with all things BFR, sign up for our monthly newsletters

January 15, 2021

       “Don’t let anybody, anybody convince you this is the way the world is and therefore must be. It must be the way it ought to be.”  – Toni Morrison

At the onset of COVID-19, and because of our community-led systems, we were already distributing fruits and vegetables directly to people’s doors when they were not leaving their homes. Our No Cost Grocery Programs are community-led food distribution points that operate in the hearts and backyards of program participants. Community-based Grocery Program Coordinators: 

  • Ensure that their neighbors continue to have food, and many of them even take food to the front doors of those who weren’t able to leave their homes. 
  • Create their own unique system of no contact door-to-door deliveries with sidewalk chalk marked physically distanced lines, and pre-bagged groceries available at the entrance of community centers and playgrounds. 

This decentralized system addresses common barriers in accessing food:

  • Distributing food from places that people are already gathered (affordable housing sites, schools and daycares) ameliorates barriers associated with operating hours, transportation, and carrying groceries long distances from bus routes. 
  • Programs are run by community members, which ameliorates common barriers associated with shame and stigma of accessing food in the charity system. 

In the coming years, we will:

  • Enhance our leadership development program.
  • Advance advocacy engagement.
  • Continue to teach workshops on building participatory structures for other nonprofits.
  • Continue developing food rescue protocols with grocery stores and local farmers.
  • Decrease food waste and greenhouse gases to maintain a world that we can all inhabit in the future.
  • Together, we are creating a new world that insists on access to healthy food for all and that edible food is kept out of the landfill.

January 7, 2021

We are so grateful for the generosity and collaboration of our community partners!

Thank you to East Denver Food Hub for their huge donation last month. Through this partnership, they helped us deliver 300 carton of eggs and 148 produce boxes (images above) to 15 No Cost Grocery Programs around Boulder and the surrounding areas!

We also received a donation of cleaning and personal supplies from the Denver chapter of International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (below, left).

Boulder Housing Partners invited us to collaborate with Boulder County to deliver a kit of biosafety supplies for COVID. These kits contained a thermometer, hand sanitizer, masks and important information (below, right). They were provided to residents-participants who, by the nature of their work, could be exposed to the coronavirus.

January 1, 2021

Thanks to community members like you, your gifts brought us over our End-of-Year goal to a total of $120,000!!

We distribute over 400,000 pounds of food to 30+ No Cost Grocery Programs every year. What makes BFR special isn’t just what we do, it’s how we do it. It is through relationships with our community members, food donors, partner organizations and financial donors that we are able to collectively work towards a more just and less wasteful food system. 

The contribution reports for financial donations will go out by the end of January. If you need yours before then, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

December 11, 2020

This is a heartfelt thank you from the Boulder Food Rescue team for contributing during Colorado Gives Day this year. Your generosity surpassed our goal and we raised $45,400 from 365 donations! We are incredibly grateful for you and our community for continuing to show up and support local food justice.
I would like to share with you a documentary that we created, “Voices of Community Food Access”. We had begun filming four of our No-Cost Grocery Programs in February (before COVID-19 hit) and decided to follow-up with them in September to learn more about how each Grocery Program Coordinator had adapted their program. 

November 1, 2020

October 1, 2020

Grocery Program feedback from participant

Mary, the Grocery Program Coordinator at Boulder Day Nursery, shared this comment from one of the programs participants:

“Hey Miss Mary! Thanks so much. I was so thrilled with the produce last week. We came home and made a huge salad. The next morning grilled peppers with eggs. We made fajitas that night. The veggies made it through the week 🙂 very much appreciated.”

Feedback like this is why we do the work that we do. The individuals and families who use our No Cost Grocery Programs have supplemented their diets with more fruits and vegetables. We value working with community members to elevate their voices in their food access.

September 12, 2020

BFR in the News

We are so excited by the amount of news coverage Fresh Food Connect has been receiving! We are so grateful for your growing support.

In a recent segment of Colorado Matters on CPR, Fresh Food Connect’s CEO Helen Katich spoke about a resurgence in home gardening and connecting gardeners to local organizations like Boulder Food Rescue to support the food systems within their communities.

Click here to listen to the segment.
CSU Cooperative Extension’s Carol O’Meara spoke to BFR’s Executive Director Hayden Dansky for a Times-Call article about the partnership between BFR and Fresh Food Connect, and the Boulder residents who are working together to improve food access in their communities.

Click here to read the article.

September 8, 2020

Food Procurement from Local Farms

On Fridays for the rest of the growing season, our program team and courier volunteers will be sorting and redistributing farm fresh food from East Denver Food Hub and Emerald Gardens to eight different communities – six No Cost Grocery Programs at affordable housing sites, 9 to 5, and Mountain Community Resource Center.

Thank you to all of our volunteers and food donors – this decentralized food redistribution system is able to run smoothly because of your dedication and support!

August 26, 2020

No-Cost Grocery Program Participant Testimonial

Greetings Ladies,

I wanted to contact you as a recent addition to the North Port Community and beneficiary of the food rescue program. I’ve only been here since late September but have created multiple healthy and nutritious meals from Boulder Food Rescue’s contributions and at Jamie’s recommendation wanted to thank you and let you know how appreciated the work you do is. Food scarcity is more prevalent than most people realize especially for members of marginalized communities. For disabled folks, there are multiple barriers to access including affordability, low mobility, the necessary skills and abilities to prepare, clean up, and even eat food that meets our nutritional needs. For most people, food is inseparable from culture and sufficient access to healthy food nourishes the health and well being of an entire person. I’m currently a Nutrition and Dietetics major at Metro State University in Denver (online) and one of my courses is an intro to cooking class. While I’m an experienced cook with food sensitivities and allergies I’ve been learning quite a bit and have been incorporating food from your program into the assignments and recipes wherever possible. Since I’m unable to safely eat most processed foods, I do my own prep cooking weekly and use a lot of fresh produce. I’m using a considerable amount of these items along with the GF/DF bread and canned beans. What I’m able to procure from the program stretches my budget so that I’m able to purchase more ingredients for recipes improving the flavor and nutritional content of my meals. I’ll be attaching a few pictures of the completed product.

Thank you again for all of your hard work, and I look forward to connecting with you in the future.

Sincerely,
Meira Merz (she, her, hers)

August 6, 2020

“BFR and Sprouts’ generosity fills me with gratitude. As you know, all of us here are at higher risk for Covid because of our age and existing health conditions. Those of us who are lower-income are at increased risk. Their kindness touches me because our American culture seems to be youth-oriented. Through their actions, they’re demonstrating how much they value us seniors as human beings. We are among the fortunate ones.”

– Grocery Program Coordinator at an affordable housing site for adults and seniors
COVID-19 Resources and Updates Quarantine ScenariosThe CDC has released a set of quarantine guidelines that describe different COVID-19-related scenarios and how to properly quarantine in response to each scenario. Click here to view the scenarios and guidelines.
Instructions for People Who Have COVID-19The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) put together instructions for people who are sick and have been diagnosed with COVID-19 – or are suspected to have COVID-19 – to help prevent its spread. Click these links for instructions in English and in Spanish.
Boulder County Testing SitesVisit Boulder County’s COVID-19 testing web page for detailed information about COVID-19 testing criteria, antibody testing, and testing sites in the county and state.
If You Have Been Exposed to COVID-19If you are in Boulder County and have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, you are encouraged to contact the Boulder County Health Department at 303-441-1100 for more information on how long to quarantine and getting tested.
BFR in the News
The Times-Call recently spoke to BFR Executive Director Hayden Dansky for a piece about how Boulder County non-profit organizations have been impacted by COVID-19 and have responded to their communities’ needs. 

Click here to read the article!

July 2, 2020

May 8, 2020

written by: guest blogger, Zoe Larkins

As many of us have read by now, the safety measures being taken to stem the spread of COVID-19 are impacting all aspects of food production and consumption in the US and around the world. Farmers are destroying excess crops, grocery store shelves are unevenly stocked, and food banks are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars over their budgets to try to keep up with increased demand for their inventory. Most concerning of all, of course, is the fact that millions of people are suffering from more extreme food insecurity or experiencing it for the first time. 

At a time when the flaws in our food system are being exacerbated and laid bare, Boulder Food Rescue’s mission is more critical than ever. We are proud that our simple, well-honed model for rescuing food from landfills and delivering directly to people in need has us on the front lines of the tragedy caused by COVID-19. In the midst of an almost constant stream of frustrating and heartbreaking news about how this crisis is affecting people and our planet, Boulder Food Rescue has a lot of positive and hopeful things to report. We want to make sure you know how much you, as volunteers and donors, are doing to help mitigate the effects of the pandemic on our community.  

An increase in volunteers

We have seen a major uptick in volunteer involvement. Typically, there are between 14 and 18 regular weekly shifts in need of a volunteer. Right now, there is only one regular shift that isn’t accounted for. And this is after new shifts were added to the schedule to accommodate new donations!

A quick response

In the wake of Colorado’s school closures and Governor Polis’s announcement of the statewide stay-at-home order, BFR responded quickly to new donations, making sure as little food as possible was wasted. When restaurants that had to close or reduce their hours got in touch to offer us perishable ingredients they couldn’t use, we coordinated new pick-ups. In support of Boulder Valley School District’s efforts to continue to feed students who participate in the free and reduced-cost lunch program and their families, BFR has helped to deliver the food bags BVSD is putting together to No Cost Grocery Programs. 

Fresh food: more important and scarcer than ever

In the past week, there have been new reports about the correlation between general wellness and susceptibility to COVID-19. Especially in children, obesity has been linked to increased risk of contracting the virus. Access to fresh, nutrient-rich produce has always been essential to good health, but it is even more important now. 

Right now, BFR’s focus on rescuing produce sets it apart from many organizations that provide food to those in need. Because of the simultaneous decrease in donations and increase in demand that food banks are experiencing, many have reported that they aren’t able to donate fresh produce to the food pantries they supply or the individuals who come to them directly. This means that the produce that BFR volunteers deliver is more valuable than ever. 

We are so proud of the work that we are doing, and we are grateful to each of you who has signed up for a shift, donated food, or contributed to our operating costs at this critical moment. 

If you’d like to volunteer, please get in touch!

Email [email protected] To donate, click here.

April 2, 2020

We have been doing community-led resiliency work for a long time – the current crisis only exemplifies why this work is so important. As things progress, we expect our work of going into communities to distribute food will be more and more necessary. The infrastructure we have in place already allows us to bring food to people who are immobile and/or cannot afford to stock up on food while in weeks or months of quarantine. 

Throughout this pandemic crisis, we have witnessed our diverse and unique community band together in mutual aid. Our team has adapted to the crisis by changing logistics to include higher sanitization and hygiene precautions, as well as no-contact food drops between courier volunteers and grocery program coordinators. 

Community leaders create their own food access programs and distribute the food amongst themselves. These people already know who needs the food most, who is most vulnerable, and how to get food to them. Furthermore, these community leaders are ready to change the programming to be as safe as possible. When asked to take on extra responsibilities to bag food ahead of time, in order to have quick and safe distribution, they were ready.  

We’ve been in coordination with public health officials and have been encouraged to continue delivering food to our No Cost Grocery Programs. When folks will not be able to go out to access other services, they will be able to access this healthy food in their communities. We care deeply about our community and will continue to serve the most vulnerable populations in the safest way possible.

While our team is monitoring and preparing, we continue to work towards ensuring that all community members feel honored, welcomed, and protected. We have encouraged all community members and BFR volunteers and staff, both in and outside of BFR activities, to practice important health and safety precautions, which is always important to keep us all well. Each individual and each community is able to assess their own risk and notify us of their needs. We have always ensured safe food practices and will continue to do so as we prioritize this crucial work. 

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Give Support during COVID-19

January 16, 2021 by Boulder Food Rescue

 
Donate now to local food justice

Hi BFR Community,

BFR has been doing community-led resiliency work for a long time – the current crisis only exemplifies why community-led healthy food access is so important. As things progress, we expect our work of going into communities to distribute food will be more and more necessary. The infrastructure we have in place already allows us to bring food to people who are immobile and vulnerable. In order to continue getting healthy food to people who need it most, we need your help.

The community work at Boulder Food Rescue has and always will focus on health equity and mutual aid. Now more than ever we are committed to making sure that those with fewer resources are not more at risk. This food justice movement is about inclusiveness and remembering that our community goes beyond the people we directly know. Community includes our elders, our sick and immobile, our wage-workers, our undocumented people, our LGBTQ population, and everyone more vulnerable to the immediate impact of this pandemic. If some folks have access to food, we should all have access to food. Boulder Food Rescue will ensure that happens. 

Here are the ways you can support BFR currently:
  1. Donate Financially: These funds will go directly to supporting new logistics and the work on the front line over the next few months. In order to be effective and strategic (especially as things continue to escalate), we need to raise $45,000. Funds will go to: 
    1. Supplies needed to ensure the safety and hygiene of the communities we serve within our No Cost Grocery Programs 
    2. Logistics coordination and materials needed for rerouting food 
    3. Supporting Grocery Program Coordinators to create new community-driven models that distribute food to individuals homes
    4. Rapid Response team who covers emergency shifts 
  2. Volunteer: If you are able-bodied and less vulnerable, please help support on an ongoing or one-time basis. We need help with BFR shifts and will do the training online. We also need help delivering sanitization supplies which can be one-time. To volunteer, please email [email protected]
  3. Donate supplies: These are obviously in short stock, but if you have more than you need, you can donate any of these supplies by dropping them off at a drop box directly at our office, located at 5749 Arapaho Ave, Boulder, CO 80303.
    1. Hand Sanitizer
    2. Soap
    3. Plastic bags/reusable grocery bags
    4. Gloves
    5. Toilet Paper
  4. If you want to donate canned goods, please drop them directly with our partner who is creating emergency food boxes:
    1. EFFA
    2. Harvest of Hope

Expanding Food Rescue Alliance

July 21, 2020 by Boulder Food Rescue

Thanks to ReFed’s COVID response funding, our Food Rescue Alliance program, a network of 27 food rescue organizations across the country doing community-based food recovery work, is expanding. 

We are excited to bring on staff to support our efforts to gather and consolidate resources, build curriculum on food procurement best practices, facilitate resource-sharing meetings, support the on-the-ground work of individual members, and conduct outreach to new food rescues across the US.  

We believe that sharing resources, logistics software, values, and a vision will make us stronger and better able to advocate for a more just food system across the entire country, utilizing our collective voice to build power, share power, and make changes from the root of things.

Meet our new FRA Network Coordinator, Lotus Chaney!

Lotus has worked in the health and wellness industry for over 8 years.
She holds 4 certifications in her field, as a Master Gardener, Outdoor Classroom Specialist, Food Literacy Educator, Yoga Instructor and soon to be Nutrition Coach.

She enjoys helping others reap the benefits of nutrition, STEM, and sustainability. She was raised in Los Angeles, CA but currently lives in Decatur, GA with her partner and dog “California Ray of Sunshine” aka Cali. 

Meet our new FRA Outreach Coordinator, Sachin Bangalore!

Sachin recently graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Master of Education in Learning and Design. During his time at Vanderbilt, he designed a map-based educational tool for volunteers at the Nashville Food Project. 

He is passionate about sustainable food systems education and has been a farm apprentice at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.  When Sachin is away from his work desk, he enjoys a good TED binge, playing board games, and practicing the drums. 

Pivoting during COVID-19 – Conversation with Boulder Chamber

July 2, 2020 by Boulder Food Rescue

Grocery Program Coordinator Testimonials during Covid-19

July 2, 2020 by Boulder Food Rescue

Written and compiled by: Diana M. Alvarado, Participant Coordinator

Diana, Grocery Program Coordinator at Madison affordable housing site, implemented a Grab’N’Go system for pre-bagging and distributing food to her neighbors. This is one of 20 self-governed No Cost Grocery programs at affordable housing sites operating across Boulder.

Based on our relationships of trust and as a result of the emergency situation that prevented us from continuing with the usual redistribution, we invited the Grocery Program Coordinators to adapt their systems to the emerging changes of COVID-19.

We started a communication campaign on a scale that aimed to follow the CDC’s recommendations and created instructions for the Grab’N’Go system.

The communities through the GPCs began to participate more actively in the program sharing expectations and collaborative work. We found out a lot of cooperation from other residents and after a couple of weeks, they started to create their own distribution systems according to the physical spaces at their locations and the best practices that worked for them.

The most interesting thing about this was observing how the GPCs found other leaders in their communities that they leaned on to make sure that all residents could have access to the food delivered by BFR. 

This gives us great satisfaction because it confirms that relationships of trust contributed to the rapid response and accommodation of these distribution systems among residents and participants.

In addition, the participants’ power to engage for a common good that arises in times of crisis,  made communities more involved in the program.

Read the GPC testimonials here

GPC’s Testimonials

High Mar

Grocery Program Coordinators – Pat and Larry Nelson

Today’s ‘Boulder Food Rescue at High Mar’ is more complicated, due to Covid-19, but also more enjoyable.  We have 59 apartments with a total of 71 residents. It used to be a free-for-all with the early birds getting the “worms” –resulting in a smallish “herd mentality”. 

Today, we have a husband & wife volunteer team. First, we clean and sanitize the tables and sweep the floors preparing for the food delivery.  We begin Sunday, at 8:45 am, unloading and arranging the food that came in, put gloves and bags out for pickup (we don’t pre-bag because everyone has different tastes and we never get enough of any one thing to serve all. Now there are a few people who are ready to shop before we are and – one person at a time, in the front door, out the back. We begin, again, one at a time, each person shops and socializes – we talk and laugh and have more fun than legal (which makes it more fun).  And we begin calling each resident and ask them to come down to pick up their grocery items. Same routine…  When everyone has finished, we take deli and some produce to the refrigerator, leave a message on the whiteboard to check the refrigerator, for those who we weren’t able to reach. Then we take refuge and boxes to the trash room – finishing our tour about 2:30 pm.  We sleep really well on Sunday nights.

Monday it’s fresh from the farm, organic lettuce. Our routine is similar and lighter. Calling, messages on the board, and clean up.

Every other Thursday at 11:30 am we receive 40 some boxes from Community Food Share. This is boxed, we unload and bring the boxes into our building, call residents to come and pick up, a few need to be delivered to the individual apartments. We clean up again, ready for the weekend. Our community is getting to be pretty tight, we appreciate one another more and it’s easier and faster to say a thank you.

Boulder Food Rescue, especially Diana Alvarado, we want to thank you for providing so much to our community.

Tantra

Grocery Program Coordinator – Wendi Caller

The NCGP program has been very beneficial to the residents here at Tantra Lake. We have been able to help provide not only good quality food from donations provided by Sprout’s, Great Harvest Bakery, and the Boulder Valley School District. We have been able to provide a small amount of relief from the economic hardship that many communities are experiencing today with the Covid-19 pandemic. We have been able to provide hope and help to many residents, and the program works. We have a constant flow of residents that use the program each week, and the residents that receive assistance from the Grocery Point range from young college students to single adults, to families with children, to elderly citizens. We have a spectacular delivery system in place, and all food that we receive is put to good use. After the residents are served, any remaining food is delivered to attention homes or shelters to help provide additional support to those most in need.

Walnut Place

Grocery Program Coordinator – Mark Cline

As the ‘point person’ at Walnut Place, I am responding to: ‘The differences noticed during the Covid-19 pandemic’.

There has certainly been more need/desire for food options from the residents. In conjunction, BFR, and others, have graciously stepped up!

On the receiving end, it has become much more of a challenge to meet the required protocols. There is less Common Area/Community Spaces available. There is less time to actuate all the stages desired with each varied delivery (size of the delivery, how much space is needed, items in delivery, actual time received, etc.). There is the ‘implementation’ of all the Covid-19 protocols. There are often many smaller details, that need to be addressed, that are different from each individual delivery.

The biggest changes due to the pandemic have been the learning curve, the importance of communication, and the extended time needed on both ends of delivery. I have been blessed with two strong and consistent aides, two others that are fairly regular, and three others that are willing to step in if available.

I am willing to share more experiences, observations, beliefs, details, etc.

Thank you BFR, and all the entities involved.

Broadway West

Grocery Program Coordinator – Liza M. Dombrowsky

Volunteering as a GPC during the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed me to view first-hand the needs of my community. The number of fellow community members utilizing food support through the program has tripled. Whereas there were 6-8 households within my community accessing food distribution prior to the outbreak, there are now 19 households requesting food. This includes 7 families. As community members faced full-time childcare obligations, job loss, and mobility restrictions related to the Governor’s shelter-in-place order, community need for food amplified tremendously. BFR allowed me to assist in reacting quickly to these unforeseen needs. 

It took about two weeks for my community to adjust to protocol changes around food distribution. Sometimes unwanted items would be returned to my apartment door or to the main area where food distribution previously took place in a group setting. Posting signs in the common area provided by BFR helped eliminate misunderstandings and confusion. Including a sign-up sheet for new participants allowed me to continue organizing the program within my community from a distance. Instead of implementing a “grab-and-go” method for food pickup, my daughter and I deliver food bags to households who have signed up. We leave bags at residents’ doors and are able to further minimize community spread that could take place if residents are to arrive to grab a bag. This helps me feel that the program is safe, as there are a number of immune-compromised residents living in our building. 

While we have hunkered down, I have seen this community grow stronger – to forge bonds that were not previously present or were fleeting. I have seen individuals grow closer, ask more of each other, and give more of themselves than I believe we ever had before. This situation has instilled resilience in all, we have come together in ways that have truly made us all better people. There’s a feeling among residents that we’re all looking out for one another. This has been expressed to me through letters, texts, and phone calls. I don’t see this changing in the future, as the collective experience we share cannot be understated. 

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