Category: Partner Spotlights

The unforgiveable truth understood all too well by the anti-hunger community is that there is far more food in the world than we need to ensure no one goes hungry. The issue is the access which our broken system fails to provide. Thankfully, communities across Colorado are working on fixing these systems and many are doing it with an equity lens for both the people who need the food as well as the farmers who need to make a living producing that food.

ReKaivery is on a mission to recover local food networks, starting with Larimer County. ReKaivery is creating carbon-neutral food hubs which will operate similarly to hyperlocal grocery stores within renovated, solar-powered shipping containers. These food hubs will make it easier for all community members to access, purchase and sell locally sourced food. ReKaivery is reducing barriers that exist within the local food space to ensure local food is accessible for all while supporting local suppliers by providing an equitable, convenient channel to sell to the local market. ReKaivery’s model is unique in that the products are sold on consignment. This means, the suppliers maintain autonomy over their pricing while ReKaivery manages and sells the products on behalf of the suppliers. ReKaivery’s food hubs will have a large community impact with a small environmental footprint.

If you’ve come to believe that necessity is the mother of invention, you might want to meet Emma Kottenstette.
She and her husband Matthew founded Farm Runners in 2015. The business provides food distribution services connecting local farmers and their products to businesses who need them in the North Fork Valley and surrounding areas. They also have their own grocery store in Hotchkiss.

The story of the Food Bank of the Kiowa Creek Community Church might be less a story of innovation in one thing, and more a story of innovation in all things. The historically small food bank has served the eastern half of rural Elbert County for more than 20 years. Shortly before COVID lockdowns hit, the church community had made the decision to revitalize and significantly expand the food access effort by making it a more central part of their own service mission. They couldn’t have known what they were in for.

It was an all-hands-on deck moment in Leadville. Shortly after the March COVID shutdown, the St. George’s mobile food pantry ran out of food. The small pantry the church maintained also ran out. And the other two food pantries in the area open only one day a month were not equipped for daily operation and were shut down. For the first time, families were turned away.

It was a tough moment for a church that had provided community meals five days a week to all comers for nearly 40 years.

In the blink of an eye, Anna Scardina’s title at Benefits in Action went from SNAP enrollment specialist to food delivery and resource coordinator. And in that same eye blink, her organization – traditionally a service connector — became a direct service provider.