For our free food distribution program, we rely on local food banks, natural grocery stores, farmers markets, local farmers, gardeners, and individuals for food donations every week. Funding for this program mostly comes from federal and local government grants and donations from local businesses and individuals. ALL of the food is redonated food. Unless we have funding for fresh food. By distributing redonated food, is makes the food go bad faster. Weekly, residents pick up a food box with around 30-40 pounds of food, mostly produce. IF they do not use the food right away, the food goes bad.

We would like funding for our food program to benefit the community in a healthy way. We want to empower the community to combat food insecurity and challenge gentrification, build community empowerment, and combat the historic and systemic marginalization of the GES communities. This will be achieved by teaching participants FOOD PRESERVATION techniques. Easily, food can be frozen or dried to be able to keep the food longer. We want our community to NOT have food insecurity by teaching them to preserve their food for future use. WEEKLY currently we are serving over 90 families and sometimes we turn families down.

By having some funding for food, this will ensure that our Globeville community has FRESH food. Most of the time, residents cannot afford fresh produce, thus they eat processed food which is cheaper. Funding will ensure that youth are fed during the summer and it be quality healthy food. OTHER communities are not transit bound, a food desert, most polluted zip code and other disparities that are unfair to our community. Residents CANNOT even grow food in their yards due to the EPA stating that most of GES is a Super Fund site and it is not recommended that food is grown in the current state of the soil.

Healthy food and food SECURITY is important to keep our community healthy. With funding, we can expand our food box count, provide more fresh healthy food, teach preservation techniques through demonstrations, educational materials and maybe show them how to grow above ground gardens. Our community should not suffer even though they do. We do what we can daily to help our residents in every way possible.

Please check out our website www.birdseedcollective.org. In quarter 4 2024, we distributed 15,508 pounds of food BUT it was mostly redonated food. This was done in 11 program days and it served 2,743 participants. OUR program grows weekly by over 50 people and we run out of food within 10 minutes. With funding, we can expand the food boxes and teach our community preservation to help with food insecurity. We also want to make sure our youth are fed during the summer with healthy food. Recipes will also be provided.