Letter from Leadership

“We can choose to operate in an atmosphere of scarcity or in an environment of abundance.”

Metro Caring’s former executive director Beth Taylor wrote this in 2001. It rings true for us two decades later, despite the challenges we faced in the past year.

Our fiscal year started in April 2023, just after the federal government slashed SNAP benefits. Over the summer, child tax credits—which had cut child poverty in half during the pandemic—were sunset. Then, politicians in Texas forcibly bussed new immigrants to Colorado. Congress’s refusal to act left community-based organizations like Metro Caring overburdened, while tens of thousands in our city lacked access to basic human needs. These decisions by out-of-touch politicians remind us that hunger results from policy choices. And that to end hunger, we must work together to address the root causes and advocate for humane policy.

We proudly joined our Denver neighbors and city officials to welcome thousands of new people to our community. Because to us, it doesn’t matter if you were born in Colorado or Venezuela, whether you moved here or are descendants of our land’s original Indigenous caretakers—everyone deserves nutritious food.

The number of people needing emergency bags more than doubled from the previous year. Our Welcome Center became overwhelmed and unorganized as we handed out emergency bags faster than we could package them. As a result, we were failing to ensure prompt appointment scheduling and a dignified shopping experience in the Fresh Foods Market.

We reached the difficult conclusion that giving out emergency bags with random items of food for the sake of it does not align with our core value of “Champion the Mission.” Pausing emergency bags was a tough decision, but it opened up new opportunities, like freeing the space for an indoor demonstration and distribution garden in the Welcome Center to share free seedlings and plants with our community.

It’s easy to get caught up in the fear that we will never have enough food on our shelves to meet the full need we see in Denver. Despite this, we made an intentional choice to celebrate abundance in the face of scarcity. We believe if we each contribute what we have in abundance from a place of generosity and love, we can all have enough.

When we think of abundance in our community, we think of our partners at Temple Sinai who made sack lunches in place of emergency bags. This helped us continue to offer nutritious meals to people, especially our unhoused neighbors, who come through our doors having gone days without a meal.

We think of Sara, who worked with refugee women to cook meals for our community at the start of the pandemic and this year opened her own Mediterranean restaurant, Sawa, alongside 10 women who all share profits of the store. (You must go try her stuffed rolls!)

We’re inspired by Elizabeth, who took her natural cosmetics business to the next level in our Mastermind Circle and now wants to scale her work to hire women in her community. Or Alejandro—who borrowed our kitchen when he lost his to COVID closures—cooking over 25,000 meals for new migrants in partnership with the city. Then there’s Eva, Miss Jocelyn, Rosa, Helen, and more who lead our nutrition classes, as well as many more stories throughout this report of the unique ways leaders in our community bring themselves and their skills to the table to care for each other.

At Metro Caring, we certainly don’t do it alone. Our thousands of volunteers, supporters, leaders, organizers, and program participants come from every walk of life to celebrate our differences and advance our movement to end hunger.

We challenge you to think about what you bring to the table. What skills, assets, and ideas do you possess that will help end hunger in our community? Because together, we have an abundance of resources to stand with our community. But we need you—and we need your friend, your family, and your neighbor to join us.

Doug Hock
Co-Chair
Board of Directors

Sarae Kurth Bay
Co-Chair
Board of Directors

Erik Hicks
CEO-Integrator

Teva Sienicki
CEO-Visionary