Jan is the Fort Collins Food Share Manager at the Food Bank; every day she brings her infectious smile and warm hugs because she knows the face of hunger. “Jobs don’t pay enough and people just don’t have enough to afford to pay bills and feed their families. I’ve been there, my children have been there, my granddaughter is there. Hunger doesn’t end.”

She fights hunger by serving as the manager of  Fort Collins Food Share, a grocery store-like operation where people can come ‘shop’ for food, at no cost, when they struggle to have the resources to cover their basic needs. Her team is made up of two full-time employees and 6-8 volunteers, daily. Together they set up Food Share and manage the check-in and distribution process. She also trains volunteers and helps answer any guest questions about the process and available foods.

The Food Share program is one of the nation’s largest, client-choice, fresh food pantries. Jan and her team work to distribute fruits, vegetables, bread, meat, and dairy to over 14,000 residents each month. Individuals qualify for Food Share based on gross monthly income. The goal is to provide each person with enough food for at least one meal per day.

“My favorite part of my job has to be the children,” said Jan.  “I have had the opportunity to form many great relationships. I look forward to seeing them and I think they look forward to seeing me, too”. Regardless of age, Jan enjoys talking to all guests and knows hearing their stories is a great privilege. She’s proud of the report she and her team have been able to establish with many guests.  “An important part of my job is to recognize that we’re here to listen to what they have to say and hear their stories; it’s more than just giving them food.”

Another major facet of her job is customer service. Not only does she want every guest to find something they can eat, regardless of their cooking facilities, but also to feel welcome. “We want everyone to know that we’re happy they’ve come!”

In Jan’s seven years at the Food Bank, she’s seen lots of changes, including a dramatic increase in need. Fortunately, food donations and community support have also increased. She’s also seen a focus on providing  fresh and nutritious foods to guests. She wishes people knew, “The Food Bank is not just about homeless people. Everyone should be aware that our services are for anyone; it’s for people who are struggling to feed themselves and their families.”

One of Jan’s most poignant stories from her time working in Food Share is of a little girl and her mom. The mother was in poor health and the girl was usually very hungry when they arrived. Jan always tried to make sure to get her something to eat while her mother shopped. One time, the girl said to Jan, “If something happens to my mom, you’ll be here to take care of me and my baby brother.”

As a result of stories like this and her daily interactions with guests, Jan feels very proud to be working in Food Share. She notes, “It’s great to know that most everyone is really grateful for our services. They all leave with a shopping cart full of food and a happy face.”

After two years of study and planning, we have made the decision to expand our warehousing operations to increase capacity to store and distribute more food to meet growing demand in the community.  We’ve experienced a 50% increase in visits to our Food Share pantries since the Great Recession started in 2008. Over the last 8 months, in particular, we’ve seen record numbers of households visiting our Food Share Program where we are providing food for up to 2,000 individuals per day. The need in Larimer County is being driven by wages that have not kept up with the increasing cost of living. Monthly rents in the Fort Collins/Loveland area increased 41% between 2011 and 2016 to an average $1,273 per month¹. For families with children, local childcare costs are among the highest in Colorado, which ranks 7th in the United States for most expensive infant care²   Additionally, more than 1 in 10 jobs pay less than $11.30 per hour³.

Today, the Food Bank for Larimer County serves approximately 84% of the 42,880 food insecure residents in Larimer County. Population growth projections alone require us to plan to serve more households into the future. That factor combined with the results of our Gap Analysis Study last year helped us establish an ambitious, but necessary goal to provide food for nearly 5 million more meals annually (based on 2015 numbers) by 2035 in order to achieve our vision of a hunger-free Larimer County. In 2016, we provided food for 7.6 million meals. We intend to grow that number to 12.2 million meals annually by 2035. However, our current facilities in Fort Collins and Loveland do not provide adequate storage space or infrastructure to keep pace with the growing demand or to meet future goals.

When we acquired our current location at 1301 Blue Spruce in 1987, we distributed less than 1 million pounds of food per year. Thirty years later, we are distributing more than 9 million pounds of food annually from the same distribution facility. Given that growth, you might expect that our current warehouse presents many challenges. First, the parking lot is too small to safely accommodate the large tractor-trailers that now deliver our food. This poses issues for our Food Share guests, volunteers, and staff as they navigate the parking lot. Additionally, we don’t have room to accept all of the donated food that is offered to us because we are out of space. This represents a lost opportunity to distribute more food. With space to store only about two weeks’ worth of food, we have a very small margin of safety for times when demand is high or donations are scarce. Freezer and cooler spaces are particularly limited, but we also have insufficient room for shelf-stable items.

We are currently under contract for space near the Fort Collins/Loveland Airport. The new building increases our capacity to store and distribute more food. Our initial plans call for a 618% increase in cooler and freezer spaces, 212% increase in the Community Kitchen footprint and a 3,700 square foot dedicated volunteer space. We will continue to operate our Food Share food pantry locations in Fort Collins and Loveland during and after the transition. The project is expected to be complete within the next 18 months.

 

According to Amy Pezzani, CEO, Food Bank for Larimer County, “We are confident that the new facility addresses many of our current challenges and positions us to prepare to meet the need in our community for several decades to come.”

 

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1: First Quarter 2016 Colorado Multi-Family Housing Vacancy & Rental Survey sponsored by the Colorado Division of Housing
2: 2016 report by the Economic Policy Institute
3: Bureau of Labor Statistics data for May 2015