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150,000: Ready-to-eat meals Colorado Restaurant Response had prepared as of May 26 for laid-off hospitality staff, food-insecure families, and frontline workers. (A network of local businesses, donors, and foundations established the nonprofit on March 30.) In addition, the endeavor kept an average of 10 employees working at each of its six partner restaurants, which include Rioja, Mercantile Dining & Provision, Morin, Kachina Cantina, and Stanley Beer Hall.
7,700: Pounds of corn donated by Loveland’s Root Shoot Malting to 10 Colorado distilleries for making hand sanitizer. The Block Distilling Co., Ballmer Peak Distillery, and Golden Moon Distillery were among the spirits makers who turned their stills to the production of antimicrobials and gave them to first responders, health care providers, assisted living facilities, and other essential businesses.
525: Families in Globeville and Elyria-Swansea who received emergency food deliveries from nonprofit urban farm and marketplace the GrowHaus. The nonprofit worked in partnership with Denver Food Rescue, We Don’t Waste, and Bondadosa, a local enterprise that uses technology and a fleet of cars to deliver groceries.
282,992: Bags of fresh food Boulder Valley School District’s Emergency Food Distribution Program had provided, at press time, since March 17 to families in the district experiencing financial hardship. The food offset disruptions to free and reduced-price cafeteria meals in the wake of statewide school closures.
$64,825: Amount raised by Feeding Colorado Heroes, a GoFundMe campaign started by Taylor Shields and Gretchen TeBockhorst at Prim Communications on March 20. The donations were used to order meals from local restaurants—including Urban Village, Steuben’s, Le French, and Reivers Bar & Grill—that were delivered to frontline workers. As of May 29, the grassroots program had served 4,500 meals to health care workers and staff at area hospitals, jails, and other facilities.
175,000: Meals cooked for homebound seniors, low-income families, and immunocompromised people as of May 26 by Friends & Family, a Denver nonprofit comprised of hospitality workers.
