Arts & Entertainment  November 14, 2014

Local food banks seek aid for holidays

Local food collection and distribution centers are gearing up for the holidays as they prepare for their biggest revenue-generating and food-collection time of the year.

For many of the food banks, the months of November and December represent the period when they receive the most donations to fund their activities for other parts of the year. They are responsible for distributing millions of pounds of food annually to low-income families throughout the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado.

“We raise over 50 percent of our annual revenue in November and December,” said Amy Pezzani, executive director of the Larimer Food Bank, which is on track to distribute 9.1 million pounds of food this year.

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At the moment, Larimer Food Bank in Fort Collins and Weld Food Bank in Greeley need frozen turkeys. Larimer Food Bank has a goal to collect more than 2,500 turkeys this year.

“The people we are serving are coming to us more frequently,” Pezzani said. “Wages and cost of living are not keeping pace, so more families are struggling.”

Weld Food Bank’s goal is to gather 4,223 turkeys that it will give to 36 of its nonprofit partners for distribution to low-income families. The food bank has collected 211 turkeys, but it has plans to set up collections at Wal-Marts and Safeways in Greeley.

“It’s more than just about a turkey,” said Bob O’Connor, executive director of Weld Food Bank, which distributed more than 11.1 million pounds of food last year. “It’s about family coming together and community coming together.”

Organizations are also seeking cash donations. Except for turkeys, they can make a dollar go further by buying their own food with donations rather than receiving food from people spending more at grocery stores to buy groceries.

In fact, Community Food Share can create three meals for every dollar donated, Development Director Terry Tedeschi said. Between Nov. 16 and Nov. 26, the organization aims to collect 75,000 pounds of food through its food drive. The organization distributes more than 8 million pounds of food annually, much of it fresh produce.

“We can really leverage a dollar much more than somebody getting a can of beans from the store,” she said.

Organizations such as Emergency Family Assistance Association in Boulder receive much of their food donations from Community Food Share. The organization needs other things, such as toiletries that people cannot buy through food assistance, said Liz Rowland, food bank manager. It also needs eggs and baby food.

The Emergency Family Assistance Association faces an operating budget shortfall of $175,000 this year, said Suzy Gardner, development director for the organization. It also needs to raise $235,000 in additional funding for five transitional family housing units it wants to build.

“The project is almost fully funded but we are short some funds,” she said.

Local food collection and distribution centers are gearing up for the holidays as they prepare for their biggest revenue-generating and food-collection time of the year.

For many of the food banks, the months of November and December represent the period when they receive the most donations to fund their activities for other parts of the year. They are responsible for distributing millions of pounds of food annually to low-income families throughout the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado.

“We raise over 50 percent of our annual revenue in November and December,” said Amy Pezzani, executive director of the Larimer Food Bank, which is…

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