Food Recovery Journal

Jackson Lamb, Board Member, Blogs About Ride Along

December 2, 2014

With a lighter schedule this week, I dedicated my day today to working with We Don’t Waste. Starting at 9 AM, out first stop was a swanky downtown restaurant, where we valet parked the 14 foot box truck and picked up 5 gallons of 2 types of soup from the night before. From there we went to a downtown 7-Eleven, where we picked up yesterday’s snacks, sandwiches and milk. From here, we visit The Denver Bread Company, where we picked up enough artisan bread to make 500 sandwiches. Though thick and chewy and not really suitable for sandwiches, we gladly loaded up enough bread to fill 5 large, 33 gallon garbage bags. As we were departing we met a man coming in with a ½ bushel of fresh Rosemary. He lives in the neighborhood, grows it in a small greenhouse, and sells it to Denver Bread. It is used in their Olive Oil-Rosemary loaves, which are a favorite among recipients. We then ventured into Sports Authority Field at Mile High, where we removed hotdogs, chicken wings, Cuban meatballs, and larger tubs of “Cubanos”, the Cuban style sandwiches featured in Miami. (Did you know that, when visiting teams play the Broncos, the SAS caterers always feature foods from the other team’s city?) We also picked up delicious desserts ranging from Pecan Pie to Raspberry Cheesecake.

Next it’s off to a few stops to drop these goodies off. We stop at a few west side locations first: Colorado Aids Project (a food bank), and Beacon Place, a shelter on West Colfax. Then it’s down to Father Woody’s, where they serve 200 hot lunches every day. From there, it’s back downtown to the Colorado Convention Center to pick up 400 pre-made sandwiches, fruit cups and salads, from Centerplate Catering, which look delicious. We take the yummy sandwiches, salads and fruit cups to a church in Capitol Hill—it only serves on Monday’s and allows its guests to enjoy as much food as they want—so of course they take everything we have in the truck for the days guests. Then it’s off to a downtown caterer that over-prepped for a party this past Saturday. We picked up Shepherd’s Pie, roasted turnips and carrots, and Irish Soda bread for 300 guests. Yum! We then head to one of the many Volunteers of America outlets. It’s a big day there. Today is the turkey giveaway day for Thanksgiving. Hundreds of people were lined up and around the building to receive a free frozen turkey, and a bag of fixin’s. The chef at Volunteers of America gladly accepted the Shepherd’s Pie and roasted veggies for meals later that week, and by the time we leave, the truck is empty.

Best of luck with your non-profit dreams. I hope you can find them. They’re outside waiting for you!