New Fort Collins Food Share Days/Hours To Address Food Insecurity Service Gap

/in /by

FoodShareFoodBank_LoFCBeginning June 1, 2015, the Food Bank’s Food Share pantry in Fort Collins will be changing operational days and hours to provide expanded access for Larimer County residents in need of food assistance. According to Map the Meal Gap (MMG) data recently released by Feeding America, 43,940 individuals or 14.4%, of Larimer County residents are food insecure. Further, 19% of Larimer County children are considered food insecure. Food insecurity is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s measure of lack of access at times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.

“Despite reports of low unemployment, food insecurity is an ongoing concern in our community,” said Amy Pezzani, Executive Director, Food Bank for Larimer County. “The 2015 Map the Meal Gap data supports what we see every day – a consistent need for food assistance. The numbers of people we serve really have not changed since 2010 and neither has the percentage of food insecure individuals in our community.”

Since 2010, the Food Bank’s two Food Share pantries (Loveland and Fort Collins) have served approximately 29,000 unduplicated individuals each year. Through the Food Bank’s partnerships with more than 80 nonprofits and its child nutrition programs, the Food Bank serves an additional 6,000 individuals each year. Comparing the MMG data with internal Food Bank service data, there is a gap in service of approximately 9,000 individuals.

While the Fort Collins Food Share will be changing days and hours of operation, Loveland Food Share days and hours will remain the same. Altering the Fort Collins’ schedule provides individuals in need of food assistance with access to a Food Bank Food Share facility six days per week. Additionally, the change to the hours of operation will allow individuals who work traditional hours to visit Food Share in Fort Collins after work.

“We believe that this change, given our current resources, will help us reach more people in need of food assistance,” said Pezzani.

 

New Fort Collins Food Share Days/Hours

Monday – Friday; 1 – 6 pm

CSFP Distribution

Tuesday & Thursday

1 – 4 pm

 

Loveland Food Share Days/Hours

Tuesday – Saturday; 9 am – 2 pm

CSFP Distribution

Wednesday & Friday

9 am – 12 pm

Open Call for Plant It Forward: More Neighborhood Champions Needed!

/in /by

plant it forward logoPlant it Forward, a joint partnership program between the Gardens on Spring Creek and the Food Bank for Larimer County, is recruiting interested Northern Colorado community members and groups to become 2015 Neighborhood Champions. These individuals and groups advocate and encourage their network of neighbors to plant, grow, and harvest an extra row or two of garden produce to donate to the Food Bank to feed neighbors in need.

Are you interested in learning more? Attend our info session about this year’s efforts at our upcoming Plant it Forward Neighborhood Champion Info Session on Thursday, April 30 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Gardens on Spring Creek, 2145 Centre Avenue, Fort Collins. RSVP to Josh Greene at jgreene@foodbanklarimer.org.

Neighborhood champions volunteer their front porches or places of business as drop off locations so that those who cannot make it to The Gardens or the Food Bank will still be able to donate. Champions receive identifying yard signs and designated collection bins to make collecting produce easy throughout the growing season.

For more information or to RSVP for the orientation, please contact Josh Greene, Food Resource Manager, at jgreene@foodbanklarimer.org.

Front Range Rally Tickets on Sale Now!

/in /by

FRR2014-950 Craft Brewers. 12 Food Trucks. 2 Live Bands.

The third annual Front Range Rally is scheduled for Saturday, May 30 in the parking lot of the Loveland Food Share, 2600 North Lincoln Avenue from 2:30 – 7 pm. Beer and food lovers are invited to gather for an afternoon of beer tasting, food sampling and live music from Taggart, Silas & Wickam and the Felonius Smith Trio. All event proceeds benefit the Food Bank.

New this year, with the purchase of a “VIP PlusTicket,” beer aficionados can attend the American Sours Seminar featuring a panel discussion with five brewers as well as a sampling of a variety of sours. This private session ticket is $80 and also includes VIP admission to the festival. Session attendance is limited to 40. VIP tickets to this year’s event are $60 and provides early entry (1:30 pm), access to the VIP tent which features exclusive beer varieties, seating, shade and private restroom as well as admission to the festival grounds, unlimited beer sampling and live music. General Admission tickets are $40 and include unlimited beer sampling and live music. A Designated Drive ticket is also available for $10 and offers festival admission, live music and water and soft drinks; no alcoholic beverages. All food is sold separately.

Buy Tickets

Walmart’s Fight Hunger Spark Change Campaign Kicks Off April 6

/in /by

Fight Hunger Spark Change_LogoFrom April 6 to May 3, 2015 Walmart is teaming up with Feeding America member food banks, including the Food Bank for Larimer County, to fight hunger and spark change across the country.

3 easy ways you can help:

In-store Purchases
Purchase your favorite specially marked products and participating manufacturers will donate $0.10/per item to member food banks based on the location where the items are purchased.

Register Donations
Your financial gifts of any amount made at the register will be allocated to member food banks based on the location where the donation is made.

Social Media
Share your smiles to raise funds for the Feeding America food banks, including ours! During the campaign, Walmart will raise awareness about the one in six people struggling with hunger in the U.S through a social media challenge. All food banks stand to benefit! Here’s how it works:

  1. Take a picture of six people committed to fighting hunger (for the 1 in 6 people in our nation who struggles with hunger)
  2. Post the picture on either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram – use the campaign hashtag #wesparkchange
  3. Make sure your post is public to ensure it can be counted
  4. Walmart will donate $10 for every qualifying post, up to $1.5 million!
  5. Share your post and encourage others to participate

 

April is National Volunteer Month!

/in /by

Motherlove
Volunteers are the hearts and hands of our organization.  Without them, we would not be able to provide food to nearly 36,000 people each year. In 2014, over 2,400 volunteers donated their time and talents to the Food Bank. These volunteers logged over 34,000 hours of service; the equivalent of 16 full-time staff!

Volunteer positions at the Food Bank vary from regular weekly shifts that include sorting food or assembling meals for our Kids Cafe and snack programs to one-time assistance at one of our special events. We also offer group volunteer opportunities. To learn more about volunteering at the Food Bank, click here.

To all of our volunteers, thank you for all that you do!