SLVREC Energy Foundation donates to local Care and Share
The SLVREC Energy Foundation recently made a donation to Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado to help with needs at the new San Luis Valley distribution center. Care and Share works to gather and sort food from multiple sources, distributing to 282 partners across 31 counties with 12 food pantries and meal programs in the San Luis Valley alone. The organization receives donated or low-cost food from suppliers, community partners and federal nutrition programs. Dedicated staff and volunteers then sort and organize the food to be supplied and dispersed to partner food pantries. Opening in September 2021, the new distribution center, located just outside of Alamosa, will allow Care and Share to streamline this process in the San Luis Valley and cut lengthy and expensive stops out of a supply chain to help feed southern Colorado. Hopes are to have the new distribution center remodeled by late summer or early fall. After it is completed, racking, and shelving will be installed, and then food can be brought in following food safety audits. Until the remodel is complete, food is being brought into the center daily via semi-truck. A truck picks up the incoming load and takes it further west to Durango or the Four Corners area based on need, and the original incoming truck switches trailers and returns empty for a reload the next day. Care and Share plans to host a grand opening after the building is complete and will invite the community to catch a vision of the work. “We are so grateful for the San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative Foundation and the contribution they have made toward our mission in the fight against hunger. Their generous gift will make it possible for us to get more food to our neighbors in need, quite literally, by allowing us to purchase a new forklift. The addition of our San Luis Valley distribution center will change the way we serve our neighbors across the Valley for the better, and we certainly couldn’t do our work without the support of community partners,” said Lynne Telford, CEO of Care and Share Food Bank. For more information on Care and Share, visit https://careandshare.org. The SLV REC Energy Foundation obtains funding through REC members’ round-up funds. Under this program, monthly electric bills are rounded up to the next highest dollar amount, and that contribution goes toward the Foundation’s mission of providing funds for charitable purposes.