The idea for Food Connect Colorado was born when Toby Levy and Liz Watts met at a free food market in Parker, Colorado in 2019. Though this was pre-pandemic, Toby and Liz saw the necessity for a free food pantry that was open several days a week. Further research revealed that the northeast section of the Denver, Colorado metro area is the only one that does not have a food pantry/market open more than a few hours a week. Also, the northeast neighborhood of Montbello in Denver has only one grocery store, which is about two miles from the majority of the residents. This qualifies Montbello as an urban food desert. So, Liz and Toby decided to start a food pantry in that area. We were granted 501(c)(3) status by the IRS on March 16, 2020. The original plan was to be open at least 3 days a week, one of them Saturday, and including an evening. Then COVID happened. Everyone went to the drive-up model and that is how we started. We are a partner agency with Food Bank of the Rockies in Denver and currently all of our food is sourced from there. We pick up bulk food items from Food Bank of the Rockies and transport it to our warehouse where it is packaged into boxes for individual households. Then the food boxes are transported to our drive-up site at Del Mar Park in Aurora. On our first drive through market, we gave away 100 boxes of food. When the word spread about our free mobile market, we realized there was a great need and we increased the number of packed food boxes. We are now serving 140 families every week at our giveaways. We hope that we will be able to open a free food market with client choice in Denver in the future.
