Dear Hunger Relief Partners,
At Food Bank of the Rockies, we believe the most effective hunger relief strategies are rooted in honoring the lived experiences of our neighbors. Centering community voice is not just a value, it is essential to building programs, partnerships, and policies that truly expand access and advance equity.
As we moved into our new facility in Green Valley Ranch, our Community-Centered Innovation team partnered with five women from the neighborhood to better understand how families are navigating food access in their daily lives. Through a Photovoice project, participants documented a month of their families’ experiences through photography and personal stories. Their sharing their stories and insights will help guide how we show up in our new community and inform the role our future community pantry will play in expanding resources in the neighborhood. You can view the project here.
We are also eager to learn from you. If your organization has a neighbor advisory board, community response board, or other meaningful ways of incorporating the expertise and lived experience of your community into your work, we would love to hear about it. Sharing ideas and models across our network strengthens all of us.
You can view resources for co-designing lived experience research with neighbors, including our projects and toolkits here.
Thank you for your continued partnership and for the many ways you uplift the voices of the communities you serve.
With appreciation,
Ashley Newell
Director of Community Building and Food Systems
Important Dates
Closures:
- Tuesday, March 31 – Food Bank of the Rockies is open until 11:00 a.m. for order pick-ups and Fresh Food Center because of the month-end closure
- Thursday, April 30 – Food Bank of the Rockies is closed all day for a Feeding Colorado Conference
Hunger Relief Partner Orientations:
- Tuesday, April 7, 10:00 a.m. – Hunger Relief Partner Orientation (virtual)
- Wednesday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. – Hunger Relief Partner Orientation (in-person tour + orientation)
- Thursday, April 23, 1:00 p.m. – Hunger Relief Partner Orientation (virtual)
To sign up for orientation or for questions about any of the dates above, contact partnersolutions@foodbankrockies.org. For our full, detailed calendars, please click here.
Feeding Colorado Advocacy & Policy Update
Feeding Colorado is the state association of the five Feeding America food banks working to serve all of Colorado and Wyoming.
- Feeding Colorado travelled to Washington, D.C. in the first week of March alongside anti-hunger leaders and advocates from Food Bank for Larimer County, Care and Share Food Bank, and the Wyoming Food Bank. We attended productive meetings with every member of the Colorado and Wyoming delegation discussing The Emergency Food Assistance Program, Local Farmers Feeding Our Communities Act/Strengthening Local Food Security Act, and opportunities for legislators to support food banks and farmers.
- In late February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced another $263 million in TEFAP bonus purchases including butter, cheeses, milk, chickpeas, dried beans, pears, lentils, pecans, split peas, and walnuts. This will complement the other bonus purchases the food bank network has received over the last few months.
- The 2027 federal appropriations cycle has not yet started as FY26 funding is still being completed. Feeding Colorado and the priorities of our national network are in essence the same. We hope to fully fund nutrition programs in appropriations bills. This is particularly important for TEFAP storage and distribution, CSFP, and WIC since the funding levels must be provided annually by appropriations legislation.
- Despite political headwinds, the House Agriculture Committee advanced a limited Farm Bill on Thursday which most national anti-hunger organizations have reservations about. The biggest controversy surrounding the otherwise mundane bill was what it lacked. Absent was any mitigation or reversal of HR1’s historic SNAP cuts despite multiple attempts by Democrats to amend the legislation. A floor vote will depend on whether this willingness to decouple SNAP from agricultural concerns reaches beyond the rural corner of the Democratic Caucus or if the traditional Farm Bill coalition truly is dead.
Recognition Opportunity for Your Volunteers
Denver7 Everyday Hero – Nominate your volunteers today!
Every week, our partners at Denver7 honor a volunteer making a difference in our community. It’s a great way to recognize your volunteers and gain additional visibility for your organization. Denver7 Everyday Hero looks for volunteers who stand out for the work they do for others. The only requirement is that the nominee be a volunteer and not a paid employee. Denver7 also does a background check on the individuals they recognize as Heroes.
Click here to check out past Denver7 Everyday Heroes and to access the nomination form. You can also reach out to Denver7 Reporter Richard Butler if you have questions about the program and/or nomination process.
Program Updates
Partner Solutions
Navigating our New Building and Pick-up Orders
Important Traffic Pattern to Follow: When exiting the parking lot, do not turn left onto 38th Street to reach the cut-through from our main entrance. Instead, turn right and make a safe U-turn at a proper channel. If you are looking to make a direct left turn onto 38th Street, you will need to exit out of our truck entrance on the far west side. Your cooperation helps keep everyone safe during day-to-day operations.
Fresh Food Center (FFC) Reminder – schedule and show up please!
In our new building, shopping visits to the Fresh Food Center (FFC) must be scheduled in Agency Express only if partners do not have an order to pick up. Please remember:
- Visits to the FFC are included with order pickups and do not need to be pre-scheduled.
- Shopping visits to the FFC can only be scheduled once per day.
- If you do not plan to use your scheduled visit, please notify Partner Solutions.
- If you do not show up for your appointment, we will be contacting you with a reminder.
- Any times scheduled and not used, are blocked from other partners gaining access to the FFC products.
- Partners who continue to schedule and not show up for their FFC shopping appointments may be restricted from future visits.
If you have any questions about this new process, please contact partnersolutions@foodbankrockies.org
Community Connections
Best Practice of the Month: Recipe Cards
During several “Get to Know You” visits with Hunger Relief Partners, we’ve seen many creative examples of displaying recipes that use food items available in that program. From creating entire recipe books to printing recipe cards, or hanging posters with fun recipes, it is amazing to see what many of you have created to not only serve neighbors with food, but also with ideas on how to creatively use those foods to prepare various dishes and meals.
One specific method we’ve seen that we want to highlight are laminated recipe cards hanging near those specific food items in the recipe. These are accompanied by printed copies of those same recipes at check out so neighbors can grab the ones that best fit the items they are bringing home and their personal interests. Another method we want to highlight is the display of large posters of recipes that show photos of the prepared meals and how nutritious they look.
Photos are courtesy of our DPS Near Northeast Community Hub.
Emergency Preparedness: Vivery
Are you open to the public? Is your Vivery Profile complete and up to date?
If your pantry and other services are open to the public, we highly encourage you to claim and complete your profile on Vivery. Vivery is the system now backing up our Find Food page, ensuring our neighbors are finding accurate and up-to-date information. We need your help keeping this tool up to date. If you have questions about claiming your agency’s profile, please reach out to our Partner Solutions team at partnersolutions@foodbankrockies.org or check out the new resource tab on our Partner Portal. Now that SNAP is restored and numbers seem to be balancing back to normal levels, now is the time to prepare and lay the foundation so we can better respond during the next emergency.
Quarterly Regional Town Halls
We enjoyed seeing so many of you during our February Town Halls! We discussed changes to SNAP requirements, what resources we can offer, and we reflected on the SNAP Disruption Emergency Response. We additionally touched base about our new facility, upcoming Site Reviews, and the Find Food Map. We also took time to hear from you – what’s been working well, where there are opportunities for growth, any questions, concerns, and more.
If you weren’t available to join your regional Town Hall, recordings of each can be accessed here. The link to these and past town halls lives in the Partner Portal, in the Partner Resources section.
If you have feedback on what would make future Town Halls most meaningful for you, please let us know by emailing partnersolutions@foodbankrockies.org.
Food for Kids Update
Free Summer Meals for Kids
Our SFSP (Summer Food Service Program) application is now open! Eligible sites can apply to partner with Food Bank of the Rockies to get free summer meals for children ages 5 to 18. Meals must be consumed on site, though some rural areas might be eligible for non-congregate service. For more information and the application, please visit: SFSP Program Application | Food Bank of the Rockies. You can also email partnersolutions@foodbankrockies.org with any questions.
Fun Fact
Q: The Culinary team has been busy this school year. How many hot dog meals do you think they’ve prepared for CACFP (Child and Adult Care Food Program) so far?
A. 2,500
B. 6,700
C. 12,500
D. 20,000
Scroll to the end of the newsletter to find the answer to this question!
Culturally Responsive Food Initiative Update
As part of our opening events for our new Aurora facility, Food Bank of the Rockies was honored to host a Community Cedaring ceremony led by Nathan Friday of the Northern Arapaho Tribe. Jacqueline White (Northern Arapaho and Chippewa Cree), Tribal Relations Specialist for Food Bank of Wyoming, introduced the ceremony to our staff and community guests. This ceremony was offered to honor the land on which our facility was built and to reflect our commitment to continuing to build meaningful partnerships with Indigenous organizations as we work together to address hunger across Colorado and Wyoming. Following the ceremony, we convened a community conversation with Indigenous organizations in the Denver metro area to explore opportunities for deeper collaboration and share strategies to strengthen food security in our communities.
Food Sourcing Update
Grant-Funded Local Ag through June 2026
We are excited to announce that we have received funding from the State of Colorado to source local Colorado agricultural products, such as fresh produce, protein, eggs, and fresh milk. These items will be available to all partners at no cost. Look for these items on Agency Express under the tag “CFPAG.” We are grateful to the State of Colorado for providing this funding!
No-Cost Protein through June 2026
We are additionally excited to announce that Food Bank of the Rockies is using internal funds to provide frozen and shelf-stable protein at no cost to partners through June. Each month, we will have protein available at no cost on Agency Express, under the tag “SNAP.” We will have both frozen and shelf-stable protein available to accommodate all partners’ storage capacities. We are thrilled to be able to provide partners with no-cost valuable and popular protein!
Nutrition Update
March is National Nutrition Month®. This year’s theme is “Discover the Power of Nutrition.” This is a time to bring attention to the importance of making informed food choices and developing behaviors that benefit our health. The Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) program focuses on this theme to support the health of our neighbors. Food Bank of the Rockies utilizes the guidelines for this program when procuring and distributing foods. Behaviors that can benefit our health can be as simple as starting to take a 30-minute walk a couple days per week or standing up every 30 minutes.
To celebrate National Nutrition Month, try out this healthful recipe!
Sweet Breakfast Couscous
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 cups fresh raspberries
½ cup raisins
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
¼ cup (72 milliliters) maple syrup
4½ cups cooked couscous
Directions
Add raspberries, raisins, shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds and maple syrup to warm, cooked couscous. Mix well and serve.
Nutrition Information
Servings: 8
Serving Size: 1 cup (144 grams)
Source: https://www.eatright.org/recipes/breakfast/sweet-breakfast-couscous-recipe
To learn more about National Nutrition Month click here.
Neighbor Resources
Kroger has introduced the Verified Savings Programs available to recipients of government assistance programs such as SNAP, Medicare, and WIC. This program gives exclusive savings to eligible community members when they shop at Kroger. To learn more, click here.
Answer to the Food for Kids Fun Fact Question: A: 12,500. Wow! That’s a lot of hot dogs!