In response to the growing number
of people visiting Denver area food pantries and to increase access to healthy
and fresh produce for all, area organizations have come together to create Produce
for Pantries.
A project of Cooking Matters, Grow Local Colorado, Denver
Urban Gardens, Slow Food Denver, Plant a Row for the Hungry, Livewell
Colorado, Food Bank of the Rockies, Metro CareRing, Yardharvest and
Saint
John’s Cathedral, Produce for Pantries connects food pantries with
school gardens, community gardens and home gardens in their neighborhoods.
With
a total of 23 Denver-area pantries involved as pilot sites for 2012, the
project aims to provide locally-grown and healthy food
and nutrition education, including easy, healthful bilingual recipes to
accompany the produce; information on safe food handling and storage for the
fresh produce; and on-site cooking classes. Through Yardharvest,
food pantries will also be connected with fruit gleaned from residents’ trees,
if they have an excess harvest they would like to donate.
“In
the world’s wealthiest nation no child should go hungry, but one in five
children in America struggles with hunger,” says Cooking Matters’ Megan
Bradley. “And Produce for Pantries recognizes that one of the main
hurdles to healthy eating can be access to local nutritious foods. You can’t
get more local than food grown in the neighborhood of food pantries.”
Produce
for Pantries “connects the dots” by bringing together youth growing produce
in school gardens, residents growing food in community gardens and those
growing vegetables in home gardens to help nourish their neighbors in need,
thereby strengthening and enriching Denver’s diverse neighborhoods. Residents
are encouraged to contact Produce for Pantries at
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to connect with their nearest participating food pantry, and to register their
fruit trees online at yardharvest.org to
arrange for donation of excess fruit to nearby food pantries. |
