JeffCo Food Share will not die, after all.
After threatening to shut Boulder’s longtime food bank at year-end, the non-profit organization has instead handed management over to a new team, which has promised to sustain monthly food distributions to families with low incomes.
In May, following a public meeting to discuss its future, JeffCo Food Share’s board declared that it would cease operations by Dec. 31, in part due to a declining number of clients but mostly because consistent volunteers seemed increasingly hard to come by.
But those volunteers, it turned out, were out there.
“I said, holy cow, I thought we were alone on an island — but we weren’t,” said Cathy Dubois, who has volunteered for Jeffco Food Share since its founding in 1987 and has recently served as its president. “The solution came to us.”
Kelly Hert, a Boulder resident who grew up in the grocery trade — her parents owned the Boulder ShopRite, now the L&P Grocery — saw the notice of Jeffco Food Share’s meeting. She recalled the early years of her marriage, when she took advantage of food programs for her family.
“When you have to make a choice between having heat in your house versus having food, I just don’t think there should have to be that kind of choice,” Hert said. “If we can help folks eliminate that, I think that’s important.”
Her friend Priscilla Hedgecock agreed. The former Jefferson High teachr had long donated money to the Food Share, but the threat of its closure prompted her “to do more than write a check. I believe that everyone is entitled to quality of life — and if they’re missing food, they’re missing quality of life. We’re not going to let this go.”
Hedgecock agreed to take charge as president, with Herts serving as treasurer. Stu and Lisa Goodner were named vice-president and secretary, respectively. And Hedgecock says a dozen others have committed to helping out.
The Food Share offers basic foods to families on the second Thursday of each month, from 12 to 2 p.m. at the Life Church on Jackson Street. The next distribution is this Thursday, Dec. 14.
It was started, recalled founding board member Jan Anderson, in response to a hidden need: Residents were reaching out to the county Sheriff’s Office in search of food, and were being referred to the United Methodist Church. The church’s pastor at the time, Kent Elliott, was involved in the Food Share’s start-up, as was John Cook, pastor of the First Baptist Church (now Grace Church).
“It started out very small,” Dubois said. Cook and his wife Elsie “would just go to town when there was a sale on” to buy food. “Then it got going.” At its peak, she said, the Food Share prepared boxes for as many as 65 families a month.
More recently, she said, the number of clients has dwindled to about 10 each month — although that has increased recently, with 24 families seeking food in November.
Hert and Hedgecock said they hope to learn why demand appears to have declined. “That’s the question we have, and the challenge we want to address,” Hedgecock said. “We’re hoping that no one ever walks in the door and feels ashamed. We’re really sensitive to that issue.”
The new board will explore whether different opening hours may be more accessible for more people in need; and whether different marketing approaches could be more effective, especially for newer residents.
But for now, they said, the officers will listen and learn. “We’re not necessarily going to change anything in next few months,” Hedgecock said.
