Dear Partners,

Thank you! Your support and patience have been crucial during the last few weeks and we appreciate everything you’re doing to help our community. Because you care, men, women, and children facing hunger have peace of mind and nourishment during this difficult time. Your collaborative actions have a powerful impact.

Keeping everyone safe during this COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging and the landscape changes nearly every day. This has not been easy; please know we could not have transitioned to the Emergency Support Team format without you.
We want to take a moment to highlight some truly inspiring happenings over the past three weeks and recognize how special these efforts are.

● Food Bank of the Rockies and our partners have doubled meal distribution! Sites are reporting 2-3x increases in households served. Despite many people struggling with unemployment and other economic issues, we are all doing our part in ensuring they are nourished.

● The collaboration stories we’ve heard from our community organizations uplift and inspire us. Working together, we can do so much more.

● The quick adjustment to a drive-thru model for pantries provides for the increased need while protecting the health and safety of staff, volunteers and clients.

● How are you collaborating? We’d love to highlight your efforts. Please share your inspiring stories with us via relations@foodbankrockies.org. Western Slope partners, please reach out to Jill Heidel, jheidel@foodbankrockies.org.

During week four of our COVID-19 Emergency Support Team plan, Food Bank of the Rockies is assessing our staffing needs, volunteer base, inventory levels, and food equity distribution between our service area counties. We’re rebuilding our infrastructure after the hard hit of the past three weeks, and we anticipate bringing back some partners in phases.

We appreciate your understanding and collaborative efforts during this challenging time. Please let us know how your agency is doing through all of this. Are you currently collaborating, referring your clients, and supporting the nearest Emergency Support Team partner? If not, did you remain open to serve clients? Please send feedback and suggestions to relations@foodbankrockies.org. Western Slope partners, please reach out to Jill Heidel, jheidel@foodbankrockies.org.

This has been an incredibly challenging time for anti-hunger service providers and even more so for people experiencing hunger. We appreciate the patience and willingness you’ve shown to adjust with us, as we all work together to persevere through this new and ever-changing situation. Our quick, collective response has resulted in a dramatic increase in food being distributed and Food Bank of the Rockies fundraising to cover all fees. We are all in this together and will continue to nourish our community. Thank you for your feedback and your partnership.

With gratitude,

Steve Kullberg
Chief Operating Officer

Cindy Mitchell
Vice President of Programs