02 18 MANUAL HIGH SCHOOL OPENS FOOD BANK By Haines Eason Homelessness, affordable housing and drug addiction: these are crises we’ve grown accustomed to thinking about in Central Denver. Kids going hungry, though? That’s not something commonly discussed. In the U.S., nearly 13 million children live in food-insecure households. According to nonprofit Hunger Free Colorado (hungerfreecolorado.org), 1 in 10 Coloradans and 1 in 6 Colorado children struggle with hunger. “I remember one day I was finishing up at work and these two boys dropped in to see some friends of theirs at the school,” says Manual High School nurse Lucy Roberts. “They didn’t go to Manual and were on their schools’ soccer team, and they weighed 80, maybe 90 pounds and stood 5 feet 10 inches or 11 inches tall. It was clear they were undernourished, but their mom was raising them by herself and food was scarce.” For Roberts, the effort to start a food bank is already underway. More on that follows. For a metro-wide group of nurses Roberts is part of, however, food banks at their schools are still in the planning phase. On Friday, Jan. 19, Roberts, representatives from DCIS Montebello and Deborah Miller, Advisory Board member of Food For Thought, an organization aiming to end weekend hunger in Denver’s Title 1 elementary schools, dropped in on the food bank at South High School. South High operates a food bank serving over 100 students 1,200 to 1,800 pounds of food a week and has been able to sustain tremendous growth of late thanks to a recent uptick in community donations. Roberts and the others assembled
@LifeOnCapHill #CapHillStill
facebook.com/ lifeoncapitolhill
The 2018 Women's March on Colorado drew tens of thousands of people to Denver's Civic Center Park on January 20. Laurie Finnegan of Denver shouts a chant as marchers pass. Photo by Kevin Ryan. hoped to get a sense of the logistics of the South program as they plan their own efforts at their own schools. Miller, a former principal at Columbian Elementary, is working with Roberts as she expands Manual’s food bank. Columbian Elementary was the first Food For Thought program site; there are now 21 such sites across the metro area. Originally a program targeting elementary schools, Food For Thought is now expanding into middle and high schools. “Children, no matter their age, will do better in school, will do better all around, when they are not
hungry,” Miller says. What Miller likes about both Food For Thought and the program at South is “there’s no stigma. As a principal, one of my concerns was who gets the food? The fact that [these programs] serve every child is really important to me.” Watching the students file in on Jan. 19 to pick up food items, one saw students seeking a full order of groceries and others just dropping by with friends for an apple or granola bar. None were turned away. CONTINUED ON 6
CAPITOL HILL UNITED NEIGHBORHOODS SHOWS FIRST PROFIT SINCE 2013 By Haines Eason It was with much excitement and a touch of relief that Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods (CHUN) Co-presidents Travis Leiker and Mark Cossin were able to tell those assembled for the registered neighborhood organizations’ (RNO) annual membership meeting that, for the first time since 2013, the RNO ended 2017 with a true profit. Speaking after the meeting, Leiker said the board “remains optimistic about [CHUN’s] future and this optimism is buoyed by the fact that our financials look as well as they do, considering just 12 months ago, our long-term outlook was very
different.” The meeting was held at Warwick Hotel Jan. 11 and was attended by more than 80 area residents. Budgetary concerns led the agenda. Leiker and Cossin led a highlevel budget talk, and then CHUN Treasurer John Riecke took those assembled through a detailed explanation of the 2017 financial position. For 2017, CHUN was able to show a profit of $59,464.70, but, according to Leiker and Cossin, while there’s room for excitement, there’s much yet to do. Tears-McFarlane House and community center is in need of about $250,000 in urgent repairs, and, say the co-presidents, the price tag for needed full restoration of the building may be closer to $1,000,000.
08 16
Councilman Wayne New It's February, and that compares 2017 and 2018 means it's Dining Guide city budgets. time. PAGE 2
PAGE 9
CHUN’s recent annual budgetary shortfalls were in part tied to declining revenues from their once signature event, the People’s Fair, an annual summer kickoff festival held in Denver since 1972. The event is now produced by Team Player Productions, a Lower Highlands-area event planning and promotions company responsible for events such as the Breckenridge Wine Classic and Taste of Fort Collins. CHUN ended 2014 and 2016 in the red $19,072.42 and $44,251.77, respectively. In 2015 it did show a profit of $47,761.03, though that profit CONTINUED ON 8
If you can't garden in February, you can still support farm to table.
PAGE 16
@DenverLifeNews @LifeOnCapHill
facebook.com/ lifeoncapitolhill