December 6, 2002 - Weld Food Bank Honored for Excellence in Colorado
April 29, 2002 - Weld Food Bank Receives Refrigerated Truck from ConAgra Foods
Feb 27, 2002 - Weld Food Bank Joins With America’s Largest Hunger Relief Organization to Issue URGENT CALL TO ACTION For More Food For the Hungry
Weld Food Bank Honored for Excellence in Colorado
December 6, 2002 - The El Pomar Foundation Awards for Excellence presentation honored 33 outstanding nonprofits, of which the Weld Food Bank was named as winner of the R.J. Montgomery Award for Human Services – Self Sufficiency. William J. Hybl, Chairman and C.E.O. of El Pomar Foundation, announced the winners and finalists to an audience of over 1,000 Colorado community leaders on December 4th 2002, at The Broadmoor Hotel International Center in Colorado Springs, CO.
El Pomar Awards for Excellence is a unique program designed to recognize and reward excellent organizations that are affecting positive changes in the state of Colorado. Established by El Pomar Foundation in 1989 in order to honor the outstanding achievements of Colorado’s nonprofits. Each year a winner and two finalists are selected in eleven categories that reflect specific areas of service in the nonprofit sector. These categories include Arts & Humanities, Community, Education, Environment, Health Care- Large Facility, Health Care- Small Facility, Human Services- Seniors, Human Services- Self-Sufficiency, Special Projects, Sports & Recreation, and Youth Development.
Organizations are nominated by and voted upon by the Awards for Excellence Selection Commission.
The commission consists of 16 distinguished Coloradoans, each of whom holds a position of leadership in their respective communities. The members are appointed by the Trustees of the El Pomar Foundation and are chosen from throughout Colorado to insure that all areas of the state are represented in the nomination process.
After an organization is nominated, the organization sends specific information to the Awards for Excellence staff, who then prepare the information for the Selection Commission voting meetings, which occur each spring and summer. With all information in hand, the Selection Commission evaluates the nominated organization according to the following criteria:
One organization, Project Angel Heart from Denver, was named Most Outstanding Nonprofit, and received $25,000 along with the Julie and Spencer Penrose Award. Project Angel Heart serves the greater Denver community by providing nutrition, care and compassion to individuals with life-threatening diseases.
Each year, in addition to honoring excellence in organizations, Awards for Excellence honors three exceptional individuals in the state of Colorado. Presented earlier this year, the winner of the Wendelken Special Trustees’ Award, which recognizes a spirit of giving and service to the community, is Tom Collins of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 2002 winner of the Shrine of the Sun Award for the outstanding nonprofit professional is Roger Goodwin with Saint Joseph’s Hospital Foundation in Denver. Walter and Georgia Imhoff, from Denver, are this year’s winners of the Russell T. Tutt Award for their excellence in leadership.
This year, we are proud to introduce the Governor John A. Love Award to recognize those businesses that improve the quality of life for Coloradans through a commitment to the nonprofit sector. The 2002 winner of the Governor John A. Love Award is PRACO, Public Relations and Advertising Company, from Colorado Springs. The owners, Jim and Nechie Hall and George Olson will donate their $5,000 award to the Steven Stearman House at Penrose Hospital.
El PomarFoundation is one of the largest private foundations in the Rocky Mountain West with assets totaling more than $450 million dollars. Each year, El Pomar contributes approximately $20 million through direct grants and operating programs to support Colorado nonprofit organizations involved in the arts and humanities, health, education, civic and community issues, and human services. El Pomar Foundation was founded by Spencer and Julie Penrose in 1937.
Weld Food Bank Receives Refrigerated Truck from ConAgra Foods
April 29, 2002 – The Weld Food Bank is the recipient of one of 28 refrigerated trucks distributed this month by ConAgra Foods to food banks and food-rescue organizations across the country.
An estimated 7,000 people receive food assistance in any given week through the Weld Food Bank. This new truck will help the organization expand its hunger-relief efforts to additional areas in the county, and enable it to accept and distribute more fresh food and vegetables.
The truck should enable Weld Food Bank to increase its overall food distribution by 50,000 pounds per year.
The donation of these 28 vehicles builds upon ConAgra Foods’ Feeding Children Better program, the nation’s largest corporate initiative dedicated solely to ending child hunger in America. The Feeding Children Better program, in partnership with America’s Second Harvest, directly impacts child hunger through three primary initiatives:
Locally, ConAgra Beef Company and Swift & Company contributed more than $200,000 in meat products and direct financial support to Weld Food Bank and other worthy causes throughout 2001.
Food Banks and food-rescue organizations that received trucks from ConAgra Foods’ Feeding Children Better Foundation this month also included: Ann Arbor, MI; Baton Rouge, LA; Bloomington, IN; Ft. Worth, TX; Gassaway, WV; Harrisburg, PA; Houston, TX; Kansas City, MO; Lemoyne, PA; Lexington, KY; Louisville, KY; Milwaukee, WI; Mineola, NY; Newport News, VA; Norfolk, VA; Orange, CA; Oxnard, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Portland, OR; San Diego, CA; Sparks, NV; St. Paul, MN; Texarkana, TX; Verona, VA; Visalia, CA; Washington, DC, and Waterloo, IA.
Weld Food Bank Joins With America’s Largest Hunger Relief Organization to Issue URGENT CALL TO ACTION For More Food For the Hungry
February 27, 2002 – Weld Food Bank, joined America’s Second Harvest today in issuing a Call to Action to feed hungry Americans in response to rapidly increasing demand for food that in recent months has exceeded supplies.
The major downturn in the economy, subsequent lay-offs and September 11 have all contributed to a significant increase in the number of Americans who are unable to feed their families. Last month, the Weld Food Bank distributed the highest monthly total of emergency food boxes in the history of the organization. In fact nation-wide, America’s Second Harvest reports that 80 percent of its national affiliates are currently experiencing a higher demand as result of last year’s tragic events and the recession, and that an additional 365 million pounds of food are needed nationwide during 2002 to meet this new demand.
“With the recent economic slowdown, more and more people are turning to local hunger-relief agencies such as Weld Food Bank,” said Leona Martens, WFB Executive Director. “Hundreds of people have lost their jobs. Some people who were barely making ends meet must now contend with reduced hours or less pay. A recent caller to the Weld Food Bank identified a situation of two young mothers who have been watering down evaporated milk to feed their infant children because they had no money to purchase more baby formula. These are a few examples of the new faces of hunger we’ve seen in the past several months.
Martens, a past national board member of America’s Second Harvest, outlined ways individuals, companies and organizations can join the effort to raise and distribute more food. “We need more companies to donate food products. We need money to purchase food and pay for transportation to get it where it is needed most. And we need volunteers to help us solicit, sort and move food through our system,” said Martens. “The need is great, but by working together we can begin to address this need and help feed hungry Americans now. I hope everyone in Weld County will call us to find out what they can do to get more food where it is needed most. No one should worry where their next meal is coming from.”
The national campaign was announced today at a Washington, D.C. hunger-relief agency. Members of Congress and Bush Administration officials and Americans from all 50 states joined officials from America’s Second Harvest to highlight the critical need for more food, resources and volunteers.
