Building Community
Fighting Hunger
The Denver Foundation's vision is a Metro Denver community where all people have the opportunity for a high quality of life. One essential element of this vision is that residents have access to food. Unfortunately, this isn't the case today.
During the economic downturn, food pantries have seen double-digit increases in the number of people seeking emergency food supplies. But the need to help isn't limited to emergency food. Recent studies show Colorado at or near the bottom of nearly every measure related to providing ongoing food security for the state's residents. What is The Denver Foundation doing?
Click here to watch Jeff Hirota on Colorado State of Mind.
Click here to read a speech about action to end hunger in Colorado, delivered by Kathy Underhill of Hunger Free Colorado at The Denver Foundation's 2012 Annual Celebration.
Emergency Food Supply
With the partnership of generous donors, we activated its Critical Needs Fund to bridge gaps in emergency food provision. We distributed over $1,000,000 during the downturn to food programs in Metro Denver and throughout Colorado.
View Critical Need Emergency Food Grant Grantees in a full screen map.
For information about where to receive emergency food, call the Hunger Free Hotline at (855) 855-4626.
Ending Hunger in Colorado
To address systemic issues of hunger in Colorado, The Denver Foundation joined Kaiser Permanente in providing initial funding for Hunger Free Colorado, an organization created through a partnership between the Colorado Anti-Hunger Network and the Colorado Food Bank Association. Visit www.hungerfreecolorado.org.
Hunger Free Colorado entered into an exciting partnership with Share Our Strength and Governor Bill Ritter's office to end childhood hunger by 2015, called the Colorado Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. The Campaign has already had great success in dramatically increasing the number of students received food in the summers when school lunches are not available, and is working to increase school breakfast provision throughout the state.
Ongoing Grants
The Foundation provides numerous grants through its Community Grants Program, donor-advised funds, and Strengthening Neighborhoods Program to help address food insecurity in Metro Denver.
For more information on The Denver Foundation's efforts to address hunger, contact Jeff Hirota at 303-300-1790. For more information about the Foundation's work to study and address poverty as a root cause of food insecurity, click here.
If you would like to give to help address issues of hunger in our community, please click here to donate and select "Critical Needs Fund" from the drop-down menu.
Other Areas of Interest
Hunger Briefing Video
On April 5, The Denver Foundation hosted a briefing on hunger in Colorado, with Maryann McClendon and Kathy Underhill from Hunger Free Colorado, and Kevin Seggelke from Food Bank of the Rockies.
