KeyBank Makes $450,000 Grant To Support Food Bank of the Rockies' Culturally Responsive Food Initiative
Food Bank of the Rockies will utilize grant to provide culturally responsive food to community partners and mobile pantry recipients; implement training programs with partners
DENVER, Colo., December 7, 2022 /3BL Media/ — Food Bank of the Rockies and KeyBank announced a $450,000 grant from KeyBank at a mobile food pantry hosted by Food Bank of the Rockies this week at an event held at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Since its founding in 1978, Food Bank of the Rockies has been a leader in the fight against hunger. The organization serves about half of Colorado and all of Wyoming, providing food and other essentials to over 800 Hunger Relief Partners and through signature programs like their monthly 70 plus mobile pantries.
The KeyBank grant will aid Food Bank of the Rockies in purchasing fresh and nutritious produce and additional culturally responsive food for partners serving their communities through the Culturally Responsive Food Initiative, which impacts approximately 10,000 households annually in the Metro Denver area. During the next three years, Food Bank of the Rockies plans to scale the program to serve approximately 30,000 households through 10-20 Hunger Relief Partners and their 70 plus mobile pantries.
“The work Food Bank of the Rockies is doing through the Culturally Responsive Food Initiative will change lives in our community by offering nutritious food, and also delivering training to Hunger Relief Partners serving food insecure populations,” said Mike Katz, president of KeyBank’s Colorado market. “KeyBank is proud to help scale this meaningful community program over the next three years.”
In addition to food distribution, the Culturally Responsive Food Initiative offers an Inclusive Capacity Building Program to Hunger Relief Partners, which includes best practices and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training for agency staff members and volunteers, an implementation plan for operational changes and capacity building projects, and completion of a six-month progress report detailing participation with the program.
“Inflation is currently at a 40-year high and is hitting Food Bank of the Rockies’ budget with some staple items costing as much as 70% more than last year. To meet the needs of our neighbors experiencing hunger, we are spending $1.3 million or more on food purchasing every month – more than triple what we were spending pre-COVID,” said Erin Pulling, President & CEO of Food Bank of the Rockies. “We’ve been able to meet the increased demand, thanks to the generosity of companies like KeyBank. Their gift will help fuel our culturally responsive food initiative and allow us to distribute food to our diverse communities while honouring their needs and preferences with respect. We are grateful for KeyBank’s inspired support in answering the challenge of hunger across our communities.”
During Food Bank of the Rockies mobile pantry, volunteers from KeyBank distributed corn husks, masa flour, pork, chilis, fresh produce, and more to ensure families have the ingredients for tamales to enjoy during Navidad. “Having the ingredients to make tamales will help a lot, especially right now with the prices so high. And it’s hard sometimes to find stuff in the stores, especially right now…I’m excited to have ingredients for tamales. We’re going to have food on our table. I bought 12 tamales for Thanksgiving and they were small, and it cost $35! It’s a lot. So this helps a lot,” said Estela Michel, a food box recipient from Aurora, CO.
Download photos from the check presentation and mobile food distribution here: https://foodbankrockies.canto.com/v/KeyBankCRFI/allfiles?from_main_library&viewIndex=0
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About Food Bank of the Rockies
Food Bank of the Rockies is the largest hunger-relief organization in the Rocky Mountain region. Since 1978, we’ve put the power of community to work for our neighbors in need. Through partnerships. Through programs. Through people. Through you. Everything we do is fueled by the support of our community and donors, and 96 cents of every dollar goes directly to distribution. With support from our community, we distribute enough food daily for over 178,000 meals. For more information, visit foodbankrockies.org.
About KeyCorp
KeyCorp's roots trace back nearly 200 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $190.1 billion at September 30, 2022. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,300 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications, and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC.
CONTACTS:
Food Bank of the Rockies:
Aditi Desai
973-919-0109
adesai@foodbankrockies.org
KeyBank:
Cori Keeton Pope
720-290-3352
cori@keetonpr.com
