CAFE Food Rescue in Colorado’s mountains first to repackage food for donations

By Spencer Wilson

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    SUMMIT COUNTY, Colorado (KCNC) — The CAFE Food Rescue in Summit County is not the first organization in Colorado whose mission is to divert food waste from landfills and even compost back into the hands of hungry communities, but it is the first to repackage food.

That’s why we needed this building,” Diane Calvin, Executive Director of CAFE Food Rescue said, motioning to the now transformed former Pizza Hut in Silverthorne. “That’s why the town of Silverthorne saw that this was important to the community because we need a commercial space so that we can repackage food safely.”

Our story on the transition of the old fast food restaurant laid the groundwork to understand what the organization was capable of, taking food from events and banquets that have never gone out to the public, and getting it into the hands of the folks at The Hub, where they can package it and get it sent out to community dinners and food banks. It’s a good spot for this exercise in efficiency too, as there is plenty of waste otherwise.

“I believe that we could recover half of the surplus food in Summit County and fill half of the missing meals that make up the need,” Calvin said. “There are 1,046 missing meals in our community every day.”

It’s a sad truth that Chef Bruno Torres knows, and fuels his drive to provide for CAFE Food Rescue from his kitchen at the Keystone Conference Center. As his team prepares meals for hundreds of people at their events, sometimes there is leftover food that doesn’t leave their kitchens, so it gets wrapped up and stored, ready for Calvin to come and get it. This comes as extra work for Torres, who works long hours only to have the additional task of making sure the food is ready to be delivered. But he understands the good this food can do.

“I know there’s some people out there that just need help,” Torres said. “People just need an extra push, a helping hand. That’s pretty much it.”

He said when he took over the project at his work, it was about to disband, but he made it a point of pride to bring their involvement with the group back to the forefront and has done just that.

“We donate the most food out of everybody in the community to Cafe Food Rescue,” Torres said with a smile.

Admisdt the volunteers and Tupperware stationed at The Hub, Calvin sees growth in the fight against hunger in her community. But she knows the fight is a long one, to make sure everyone has enough to eat.

“It’s a job that you have to work yourself out of,” Calvin said.

The CAFE Food Rescue in Summit County is taking donations to help its mission.

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