What A Summer

Thanks To Volunteers and Donors For Keeping It Real

 

By Sierra Fleenor

Executive Director, GPHC, Inc.

The garden is producing, the farm stand is in full swing, and a new school year is just around the corner.

So many of you have joined us for our special events this summer, including the Garden Walk, the 4th of July Parade, and garden workshops. Don’t worry, though, the fun keeps on coming. The Home Tour & Street Fair is Sept. 23, so mark your calendars and join us for this fantastic event.

Thanks to our volunteers who give time and energy to Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Our food pantry volunteers always excel, and the summer is a particularly good time to see them shine. Our farm stand attracts lots of produce and bread that we sort, wrap, and distribute to our neighbors. At the same time, operations continue on our food pantry ensuring our neighbors have shelf-stable food and hygiene products. Thank you to each of our volunteers for helping to keep food on everyone’s table in the neighborhood.

The farm stand is a wonderful program that requires additional support. I’d like to thank GPHC’s board of directors for their help. Each Sunday, a board member meets a volunteer from Denver Food Rescue at GPHC and receives the donation of items leftover from the City Park Esplanade Farmers’ Market. These efforts help infuse our neighborhood with fresh, delicious food, and diverts food from going to the landfill. Thank you.

Thanks also to the dedicated and hard-working volunteers for the Garden Walk and 4th of July Parade. These events are consistently joyous and offer opportunities for community building. Thank you to this year’s Garden Walk co-chairs, Patty Mead and Carla Finch, for pulling off a diverse and fun event. Thank you to 4th of July Parade chair Justin Bresler, for another wonderful day of celebration, and thank you to Matthew Collver and Hills Church for running our first-ever 4th of July block party.

We also extend gratitude to the donors who have supported GPHC with monetary and food donations. We rely on the support of donors to serve clients through our food programs, our sustainability and garden programs.

This month we’d especially like to thank Daniel Schaarschmidt, Greyson Friedman, Stella Mullins and Olivia Homlar for donating the proceeds from their lemonade stands to the food pantry. And, a big thank you to their parents for helping out.

The free farm stand continues to draw crowds. Join us at GPHC every Monday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. through the end of October. Gardeners are invited to bring any produce from their garden that they don’t plan to eat themselves. Stop by and pick up some goodies, donate fresh food, or both.

For our food programs we currently need cans of peaches and any other variety of canned fruit, canned meats, including tuna, Vienna sausages, and Spam, white rice, hearty soups, black eyed peas, coffee and condiments. We always accept donations of fresh or frozen meat, dairy, bread, vegetables, and fruit. We cannot distribute expired items, so please check your items before making a donation.

Our pantry is in serious need of hygiene products. If you have the ability to donate travel or full size items, our clients are requesting lotion, soap, body wash, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash. People have also requested laundry detergent, including pods, and dish soap. Finally, we are in need of baby wipes and diapers in sizes newborn, 1, 2, 5 and 6. We also need canvas or cloth grocery sacks and we accept paper and plastic grocery bags as well.

We’re gearing up for the new school year and our Weekend Food Program. We serve hundreds of students and their families and we need your support to keep it going. What we primarily need are individually packaged snack foods like granola bars (without nuts, preferably), fruit snacks, cookies, crackers and cheese crackers.

We always accept financial donations for the food and other programs. If you want to know how you can get involved with GPHC, check out our website at greaterparkhill.org, or call the office at 303-388-0918. We accept food donations at GPHC’s office (2823 Fairfax St.) Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. We also accept donations of non-perishable items at the Park Hill Branch Library and Cake Crumbs during their regular business hours.

Volunteers

Janey Alpert

Jason Barth

Jon Bowman

Colette Carey

Christine Caruso

Myrna Currie

Camille Davis

Melissa Davis

Cara DeGette

Meg Farina

Claudia Fields

Harold Fields

Tas Frashure

Maria Goodwin

Nam Henderson

Noni Horwitz

Ryan Hunter

Erika Hutyra

Megan  Jamison

Bernadette Kelly

Rod Leman

Debra Lovell

Chuck Nelson

Mia Peterson

Izzie Schuster

Tammi Scroggins

Heather Shulman

Shane Sutherland

Carrie  Thrasher

Adam Uribes

Sue Weinstein

Jeannie Willis

Garden Walk Volunteers

Micki Amick

Barbara Armendariz

Edana Baack

Peggy Baack

Jill Bishop

Kate Blanas

Dan Burcaw

Stephanie Ceccato

Maura Connerton

Susan Davenport

Greg Davis

Dave Dubas

Jean Ercolani

Carla Finch

Nora Funk

Lindsay Giachetti

Cyndi Glasgow

Charlene Gustafson

Jeff Gustafson

Patty Heiferling

James Hogan

Zena Jahmi

Marcia Lamb

Carole Leitner

Roberta Locke

Lynn Maedel

Margie Malone

Paula Marinelli

Lisa Matthews-Bingham

Stephen Matthews-Bingham

Patty Mead

June Monson

Lisa Neer

Daniel Neufeld

Elizabeth Neufeld

Allison Nuanes

Cissy Nuanes

Dennis Pearl

Dania Pettus

David Pettus

Edana Popp

Rachelle Reese

Peggy Roberts

Mary Salsich

Jacqui Shumway

Blair Taylor

Tara Tull

Jackson Turnacliff

Mary Ann Welch

Jane Wilson

Judy Wolfe

4th of July
Parade Volunteers

Justin Bresler

Max Bresler

Alison Bresler

Charles Bresler

Matthew Collver

Michelle Golla

Macy Gosch

Noah Gosch

Justin Little

Sophie Means

Charles Newcomb

Mike Regan

Eric Sikkema

Amy Sumner

Maggie Thompson

Donors

Inger Fedde

Greysen Friedman

Park Gamble

Ellen  Hokanson

Olivia Homlar

Harriet Mullaney

Stella Mullins

Linda Poletti

Cara Schaarschmidt

Daniel Schaarschmidt

Christine Springs

Meg Farina

AARP Queen City Chapter #995

Ace on the Fax

Blessed Sacrament

Cake Crumbs and Patrons

Cure D’ Ars

Dank Dispensary and Clients

Denver Food Rescue

Food Bank of the Rockies/9 News Cares

Hinman’s Bakery

Messiah  Community Church

Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church

Park Hill Community Garden

Park Hill Congregational Church

Park Hill Library and Patrons

Park Hill United Methodist Church

Rosalie Chamberlain Coaching and Consulting

St. Thomas Episcopal Church

Temple Micah

Whole Hearted Mobile Vet