What Gives!
Thanksgiving Was A Blast; Dec. 4 Around The Corner
By Amelia Eckles and Sierra Fleenor
GPHC, Inc.
It’s hard to believe that we’ve completed our Thanksgiving Giveaway for 2018. Together with our donors and volunteers, GPHC distributed 346 complete Thanksgiving meals to our neighbors, families in need in Greater Park Hill.
Our Giveaway takes a monumental amount of work and it’s a joy to coordinate. Your donations, your volunteerism, and your care have meant the world to us as we’ve been pulling double shifts, answering phone calls, and serving people in our community who need support.
We’d like to recognize and thank our regular volunteers for our food programs who have done double, or even triple duty, to make sure the Giveaway was successful.
All of our Thanksgiving volunteers have been exceptional. They’ve counted, and recounted, cans of yams, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, and so on. They’ve hauled frozen turkeys and assembled meals and called clients and picked up boxes. Our volunteers made this event possible and their enthusiasm and sense of humor made the whole month outrageously fun.
We have also been delighted by the generosity of our donors. From those who ran out to buy turkeys to those who donated cases of broth and yams to those who made financial contributions so that we could manage the number of turkeys on site, each and every donor has made not only the Thanksgiving Giveaway, but also our Weekend Food Program and Emergency Food Pantry successful. We’d like to thank Brie Cosgriff, Amy Makurimidze, and Jon Moore for organizing food drives to benefit our Thanksgiving program.
Of course, the folks at REALGiving, including Jay “Top Turkey” Epperson, are always key to our Thanksgiving success, providing us with dozens of turkeys each year. We know how lucky we are to have amazing donors like you. We’d like to especially thank the amazing folks at DANK Dispensary, including Dan Glenn, who donated $1,000 to help us purchase turkeys.
The heart of our program is our clients: The families, seniors, and individuals who we have the privilege of serving. To see the impact of our hard work, the joy on our clients’ faces, the gratitude of those we serve—that’s why we do this work.
We know you’ve been generous; we know that you’ve made this holiday so special for so many of our neighbors. And, we hate to do it, but we’re going to request that you dig a little deeper into you pockets, as you are willing and able.
Another special day is coming up; Dec. 4 is the statewide giving campaign called Colorado Gives Day. Nonprofits throughout Colorado are asking their donors and supporters to schedule a donation on Dec. 4 through the Colorado Gives Day website. These donations are part of an incentive program. Last year we raised more than $5,195. If we exceed that number this year, we could receive an additional $5,000 donation from First Bank.
You can use our site on Colorado Gives Day – at coloradogives. org/GreaterParkHillCommunity – to donate to our Weekend Food Program, the Food Bank, or even to renew your GPHC membership. Your tax-exempt donations help us purchase food that our clients lack regular access to including meat, bread, and dairy products, as well as allowing us to make infrastructural improvements that our 50-year-old pantry desperately needs.
Volunteers
Janey Alpert
Brittany Axner
Maria Barreto
Jason Barth
Wayne Bodenhemier
Laurie Carr
Minnie Cassell
Lana Cordes
Christine Cullen
Sandy Dukat
Jack Farrar
Jeanette Fedele
Claudia Fields
Harold Fields
Tas Frashure
Dave Gestner
Patrece Hairston Peetz
Feliz Hillman
Leslie Hirsch
Elizabeth Homlar
Noni Horwitz
Erika Hutyra
Megan Jamison
Nina Khosravi
Katherine Kuhn
Heidi Kutcher
Rod Leman
Sara Lohmeyer
Debra Lovell
Catherine Lucht
Kirby Martin
Ben Maxwell
Pamela Morton
Jasper Mueller
Nancy Myers
Chuck Nelson
Gerri Persin
Justin Petaccio
Mia Peterson
Peggy Roberts
Deb Rosenbaum
Dave Roush
Mary Salsich
Tammi Scroggins
Heather Shockey
Heather Shulman
Julie Steiner
Shane Sutherland
Leslie Twarogowski
Tracy Urban
Sue Weinstein
Donors
Anonymous
Janey Alpert
Daniel Ambruso
Kathearine Ambruso
David Arnolds
Eileen Arnolds
Amy Barrett
Dustin Barrett
Estelle Bennett
Kylie Berger
Kris Bergquist
Stacey Bowers
Debbie Brady
Lydia Buchmann
Jennifer Cappeto
Stephanie Ceccato
Henry Chu
Lana Cordes
Brie Cosgriff
Aaron Crouts
Diane Dash
David DeMarais
Harry Doby
Jenny Dyer
Edie Eckles
Margaret Ekstrand
Karen Elliott
Zachery Enterprise
Jack Farrar
Tas Frashure
Dan Glenn
Marcy Glenn
Geneva Goldsby
Jon Groves
Jane Hakala
Ellen Hokanson
Robert Homiak
Ryan Hunter
Steven Irving
Megan Jamison
Karen Johnston
Rochelle Kanell
Shana Kirk
Karen Kogel
L.O. Levine
Joseph Little
Sharon Little
Roberta Locke
Molly McCrea
John Morfin
Pamela Morton
Harriet Mullaney
Jasper Mueller
John Norris
Oliver Family
Sally Ortiz
Mia Peterson
Louis Plachowski
Mike Quigley
Karen Reynolds
Linda Rice
Peggy Roberts
Mary Salsich
Susan Schneider
Jen Seward
Elizabeth Spohn
Marekah Stewart
Shane Sutherland
Kim Tighe
Karen Timmons
Bridget Walsh
Jewel Wegs
Susan Wofford
Stark Family
Flora
AARP #995 – Queen City of the Rockies
Anna Jankowski’s First Grade Class, Valdez Elementary School
Bang Salon
Blessed Sacrament
Cake Crumbs and Patrons
Cure D’ Ars
DANK Dispensary
Denver Food Rescue
Food Bank of the Rockies
HM Capital
Knights of Petere Claver Jr. Daughters
Messiah Community Church
Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church
Montview Community Preschool and Kindergarten
Park Hill Congregational
Park Hill Elementary School
Park Hill Library and Patrons
Park Hill United Methodist
REALGiving
St Thomas Episcopal Church
Tables Restaurant