The COVID-19 pandemic has presented the world with more than its fair share of challenges. But despite all of the heartbreak and hardship, there has been no shortage of people rising up to provide help where it’s needed most.
The GrowHaus is a local non-profit dedicated to cultivating community-driven food justice in the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea area through services like food distribution and education programming. With Colorado Gives Day just around the corner, The GrowHaus is hoping for continued financial support to fund their ongoing efforts to curb food insecurity.
Knowing all too well that food access, and particularly healthy food access, is a challenge in their community, even at the best of times, The GrowHaus understood why the issue hit harder as COVID-19 began its devastating grip on the country. Thankfully, the non-profit got right to work.
“We have a team of community outreach staff that work to engage our neighbors and learn about what their needs are and how we can best respond,” Development and Communications Associate Delaney Tight said. “Especially in times of crisis like this year has been.”
Cosechando Salud (Harvesting Health) was a service initiated prior to the pandemic. The weekly program partnered with Denver Food Rescue, We Don’t Waste and Bondadosa to distribute high-quality rescued food to families living in the 80216 zip code. Many families relied on the no-cost program for fresh food before COVID-19, so The GrowHaus made sure to continue their efforts throughout the pandemic. They even began delivering directly to homes to continue to provide for families in the safest way possible. Cosechando Salud reaches about 100 families a week, according to their website.
But the GrowHaus didn’t stop there. They also launched their Rapid Response Food Delivery Program the week of March 23 as a direct response to the pandemic. This program also partners with Bondadosa and We Don’t Waste to deliver dry bulk food and fresh produce directly to the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea community. Each delivery includes one bag of dry bulk food and one bag of fresh produce. Over 14,000 deliveries accounting for almost 460,000 meals have been delivered to nearly 550 homes since March, according to their website.
The pandemic has made the mission of The GrowHaus more crucial but also brought more visibility to their cause.
“A lot of people understand that food access is critical right now,” Tight said. “I think that people are rallying behind the causes that they’re passionate about but also that have come to the forefront because of the pandemic.”
Colorado Gives Day is the non-profit’s largest fundraiser of the year. Tight said donations from the event allow for The GrowHaus to create programs like Rapid Response Food Delivery.
“By having Colorado Gives Day and having the consistent support of individual people, then we can do things like rapidly launch a program or shift what our staff is gonna focus on,” Tight said.
Tight also wanted to encourage anyone in the Globeville or Elyria-Swansea area struggling to put healthy food on the table to reach out to The GrowHaus.
If you are interested in learning more about The GrowHaus or making a donation, please visit the website: https://www.thegrowhaus.org/
