2023 in Review

December 29, 2023

Hi Community Food Bank Friends,

What a year! I continue to be so astounded by this incredible organization that I feel blessed to have led for four years now. Our team members, volunteers, donors, and community members have done such an amazing job this past year supporting us through yet another difficult time of uncertainty.

We have continued to push for better and more dignified solutions to hunger in our community -- significantly increasing our fresh whole foods distribution. We have maintained our robust nutritious food access while building momentum in some innovative new programming to address root causes of food insecurity -- refining our nutrition exploration efforts, increasing our focus on bilingual resource navigation, and piloting creative new food access solutions to addressing transportation barriers!!

Our team has distributed nearly 900,000 lbs of nutritious food nourishing over 77,000 duplicated individuals in our community this year. We conducted approximately 20,000 pantry visits -- that means 20,000 individuals or families who came through our doors in 2023 to shop for nutritious food. That is no small feat.

We provided over 3,000 nutritious food box deliveries directly to the doorsteps of our most vulnerable neighbors. We diversified and scaled our food procurement options to include additional wholesale providers and local Colorado growers to fill the gaps of what we can't consistently procure through Food Bank of the Rockies. Our resource navigators provided resources to over 1,300 folks using our programs, and helped walk many clients through the confusing changes to federal benefit programs this year.

I am not going to lie, it has been a difficult year for us despite these hard-won successes. We have had to make some hard and important decisions on how we run our program and what we can sustain so our programs remain available for the greatest number of our community members in need. We decided to switch to an appointments model at the pantry, and change the delivery program to referral only, because demand for our programs was simply greater than our capacity.

But we did not take those decisions lightly. Our team worked tirelessly this year to implement those changes, while also thinking seriously about how it might affect those in need. We doubled the pantry service limit to help ease the stress of the SNAP benefits reductions, and we continue to work hard to improve the appointments model to meet folks where they are at -- this has looked like hiring a receptionist to answer appointment calls in the mornings, offering dry emergency bags 1x/month for those in an emergency who don't have an appointment, and working to reduce missed appointments.

We have had to be more active on our fundraising efforts, increasing our asks to donors and building exciting new fundraising events like the September Harvest Celebration in partnership with CSU Western Research Campus. We have worked on building our ability to be a voice for our community -- growing our advocacy efforts in support of smart hunger relief policies, and helping lead the Mesa County Hunger Alliance efforts across 20+ agencies working to address hunger in our valley. We have needed to look closely at what our team members need to avoid burnout, maintain positive mental health, and take care of themselves so they can continue to take care of those we serve.

As the Executive Director, I could not be more proud of our team and what we have accomplished this year. It is not easy to see what needs to be done, and roll your sleeves up to make it happen. The Community Food Bank is excited to step into 2024 rested and with fresh eyes to see what is possible for our community in the future! We look forward to finalizing and sharing some exciting new things in the new year -- so please stay tuned!!

To all our community members we serve, and those who make this organization possible, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for working together with us toward a better future. It is such an honor to work alongside you and see what beautiful fabric of care and compassion our community is made from.

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!!

To our lovely volunteers, donors, and partners, we truly would not be able to meet our mission without each and every one of you.

On behalf of our full CFB team and everyone we serve -- thank you.

Alisha Wenger

Executive Director

alisha@foodbankgj.org

(970) 640 - 0336 ext 3

Alisha and Food Bank toddler Olivia enjoying snowshoeing over Christmas on the Grand Mesa

Wins

Serving in the Face of Uncertainty

With food costs and inflation still significantly affecting not only those we seek to serve, but also our own operating and food costs -- we were busy this year. Add to that the issues and reductions with SNAP benefits, folks in our community were in need of our services more than ever. We worked hard to continue to raise funds to maintain our important work in spite of these challenges, and even doubled the number of times clients could use the pantry to help ease the reduction in SNAP and other federal benefits!!

Innovating New Programs

While we maintained our core food access programming - we were also thrilled to launch a new pilot program to bring fresh, local produce and proteins directly to neighborhoods and community partners serving folks with high nutrition needs and low fresh food access. Thanks to some important grant funding, our new "Mobile Market" was available at 15 partner sites this summer and fall!! It was a smash hit and we look forward to doing more in 2024!!

Supporting CO Economy

With the help from the Colorado Food Pantry Assistance Grant and the USDA Local Foods Purchasing Assistance funding -- we are so proud to have been able to purchase over $127,000 of fresh food directly from Colorado farms!! Many of those dollars were spent with Mesa County and regional farmers in near by counties. Thank you to Early Morning Orchard food hub for helping source and aggregate all that food!! It has been so incredible to both nourish our community AND support the Colorado agricultural sector.

Improvements

Appointments & Referral System

Because there has been such an intense demand for nutritious food access through our choice pantry and our home delivery programs, we as a team had to make some difficult decisions and transitions this year. After much preparation and planning, our team helped move our pantry to an appointments model, and moved our delivery program to referral only.

These were not easy decisions we took lightly, and were a direct result of increased food costs, long wait times, on-site safety & parking concerns, and with an eye toward maintaining these programs at a capacity we can sustain long-term. We appreciate everyone's patience and understanding during this transition, and are so proud of our team for working hard to find better solutions for our community.

Community Communications

& Input

As a result of moving to an appointments pantry model - we also transitioned to a new pantry operations software!! This has greatly improved our ability to communicate directly with our clients to send out notices, reminders, and updates in a timely manner through email and text.

Additionally, we have been conducting WIC focus groups, community surveys, and strategic planning input throughout the year! We are especially proud of our work with the CFB Community Advisory Board who have been meeting on a monthly basis to help inform and design CFB planning and programming moving forward!

Increased Staffing Capacity

As we have shifted and continued to grow in service to the Grand Valley -- our team has needed to grow as well. We hired a number of new team members this year to help improve the efficiency of our operations and reduce staff stress and burnout. We welcomed Ashly as our new Development Associate, Rene as our Front Desk Receptionist, and Ithzel as a temporary WIC navigator.

This has also included developing a successful internship program with the Mesa County Workforce Center to host warehouse operations and stocking interns. It has also helped provide some recent job experience to interns as they look to rejoin the workforce! Shanna and Robert have been such wonderful additions to our team in support of our service staff and volunteers!!

Gratitude

Thank You to All Our Incredible Volunteers

It is no small feat to receive and distribute nearly 900,000 lbs of nutritious groceries -- or serve thousands of folks in need on a monthly basis. With an average of over 11,000 volunteer hours annually, it is hard to express how important volunteers are to our organization. They are the life of everything we do, and we simply could not do this work without their hard work and dedication to our mission!! From regular weekly volunteers, to amazing corporate groups who jump in on special projects when needed -- we thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts!!

Thank You to All Our Generous Donors

The Community Food Bank is truly a community powered organization -- with the majority of our funding coming directly as donations from our community members. These donations provide an average of 80,000 lbs of nutritious food to our neighbors in need every month. Donations of all sizes make this lifeline possible -- with every dollar donated providing 3+ nutritious MEALS to our clients. The average food cost per individual nourished in 2023 was a total of $4.50.

We do not receive government commodity foods, or no-cost mobile pantry support from Food Bank of the Rockies. Thousands of donors within our community make this programming possible!! Their generosity helps improve many lives within our community and keeps so many families and individuals afloat during their time of need. As our food costs continue to rise, our donors continue to astound us.

THANK YOU!!!

Thank You to the Mesa County Community

The Community Food Bank has been serving Mesa County for over 45 years now. We are the result of so much collaboration and support throughout every aspect and corner of this community. Thank you to everyone who continues to build a better food system with us -- one where nutritious food is available to everyone, no matter their circumstances.

We are so grateful to you all for helping make a place for all our neighbors at the community table. We look forward to continuing to serve and meet the needs of Mesa County in 2024 and beyond!!

Support Community Food Bank TODAY!

Become a Community Food Bank Harvest Giving Club Member!!

Monthly donations to the Community Food Bank are the most effective and impactful way to support our work to end hunger in Mesa County.

We are experiencing record high demand, with unprecedented food costs.

We need your help to make sure no one goes hungry in our community.

With an average cost per meal of just $0.30 your monthly donations can make a big impact. Every $1 donated helps provide 3+ nutritious meals to our Grand Valley neighbors!

Please consider becoming a monthly donor, every donation makes a difference.

$50/month provides over 2,000 meals annually!!

Become a Harvest Member Today!!

Did you know that approximately 30% of a nonprofit's annual donations

are made in the month of December?

10% of those are made within the last three days of the year...

There is still time to make difference and support our work in the community!! Help us finish 2023 strong as we move into another year of nourishing the Grand Valley and making sure no one in our community goes hungry!

If you haven't already, please consider making an end-of-year gift in support of the Community Food Bank.

Make a Donation Today!

www.foodbankgj.org

Email: info@foodbankgj.org

Call: (970) 640 - 0336

For every $1 donated, the Community Food Bank can provide up to 4 meals to our Grand Valley neighbors in need. Please consider making a financial contribution if you are able.

The Community Food Bank of Grand Junction is an independent 501c3 nonprofit organization.

We rely on grant funders and individual donors to make our program a reality!