Food Security United States Project #15428

Give Healthy Food to 462 Colorado Families in Need

by Jovial Concepts

Give Healthy Food to 462 Colorado Families in Need

Project Report | Nov 22, 2017
Winter is a time of heath and home

By Kristina Welch | Executive Director

Movement Studio

Hello Everyone and thank you for your support,

As we journey into the holiday season, we are happy to report that we have successfully put 75 gardens to bed for the winter. We are incredibly grateful to all the volunteers who came out this year and made our projects a success. We had over 730 volunteers that contributed over 4,670 volunteer hours! We truly could not succeed without you! We grew just over 5,000 lbs of produce this very short season and hope to blow that number out of the water next year.

As we retreat into our homes to enjoy family and friends this winter, so does Jovial. Our goal is to remodel our new office and have the commercial kitchen and grocery store up and ready before spring. Here we will create a much needed space of nourishing and commitment to the highest standard of self care.

We are excited to offer cooking classes, affordable healthy food, nutrition, wellness, and movement classes in our community space. This has been a huge undertaking of remodeling a 7,500 sq ft building located at 1st and Sheridan. However, we KNOW this is something our community needs.

In 1946, Rose Gates began a journey of dedicating her life to helping those in need. She created a community for the underserved families in the Barnum neighborhood offering them resources for food, clothing, and economic growth. In 2016, Jovial Concepts bought the building that housed her efforts since 1979 with the goal to continue in honoring her mission. We could not be happier to call this space our home and hope you will join us in continuing the evolution of full body health and wellness in west Denver.

This building has been a tremendous step for Jovial and is represenative of our growth over the last 8 years. From the garden we build our connection to the environment, we learn what belongs in our soil, our water, and our air. We learn about the nutritious value of the fruits and vegitables that grow up from our garden and become inspired to bring these into our kitchen. At our new location, The Co-op at 1st, we invite you to come and learn how to incorporate the things we grow into delicious healthy meals for your family. One thing our neighbors have asked for most are more economic opportunities. The store will be open to anyone interested in selling their wares. We hope to offer everything from art, jewelry, books, to home grown produce and healthy snacks,

In line with mission of Jovial Conccepts, The Co-op at 1st is committed to the highest levels of sustainability. We aim to be a zero waste facility and package free grocery store. We hope to serve as an example of urban sustainability and are enjoying new partnerships with BikeDenver, GRID, Denver Green Roofs, and so many more.

We look forward to seeing you in the spring for another garden season and for the emergance of our new space as The Co-op at 1st.

Greenhouse

Swag

Market

Co-op

Links:

Co-op Website

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Aug 28, 2017
Let it Rain!

By Kristina Welch | Executive DIrector

Before Surgery

Hello Jovial Friends,

As you may recall, over the last few years we have highlighted the story of one of our first garden hosts Mandy and her son Dakari who suffers with several digestive disabilities. This week, I had the privilege to work with Mandy on creating a free food pantry at our new office. A play on the little free libraries, this food pantry encourages folks to leave what they can and take what they need. As Mandy painted the pantry in the most beautiful and inviting colors, she opened up to me about some of the progress with her son.

Dakari has had an IV line into his stomach since birth that provided the nutrition to off set his whole food diet. This has been a constant source of stress for the family as any small infection in the IV could cause serious complications for Dakari, including death. Yet, surgery after sugery, over these last 4 years Dakari has proven to be a resilient, happy, and amazing fighter. Finally, last month, Childrens Hopital decided to remove the IV. Imagine, at four years old, for the first time being able to play in water and dance in the rain!

We could not be more overjoyed for Dakari and his epic summer of Elitches' Water Park and running in the sprinklers with his brothers for the first time! I asked Mandy if she felt being a part of Jovial Concepts and hosting a Jovial Garden at her house has had any impact on her experience and her sons health. As your donations have directly helped shaped this story as well as Mandy's ability to provide fresh whole foods to her sons from her backyard, I requested she put her answer in writing so that I could share with you.

From Mandy-

"Being a part of Jovial Concepts these past 4 seasons has been a wonderful resource for sustainability and teaching my children how to grow their own food. My boys have loved working with volunteers and helping out when they are gardening in our yard. In the past three years our family has experienced a huge financial loss with the birth of our third son who has severe and multiple special needs. During the summer months it's been amazing to use food from the garden to supplement his special diet and provide him with nutritious fruits and veggies. My son is now 3 1/2 years old and he is doing better than we ever expected and thriving off of whole foods and some supplemental tube feeding. He is now growing without the tube and he is about to start preschool, he is the happiest most joyful child I have ever known. I owe a lot of his, and our family's progress, to friends and community and especially the generosity of Jovial Concepts and it's amazing volunteers. Words cannot express how much I appreciate Jovial and their program"

Thank you so much for your ongoing support and donaions. It is your generosity that gives us the ability to change lives one vegitable at a time. This summer we are in need of more volunteers and are seeking funds to grow into 3 more neighborhoods in the spring. Our gardens have aready produced just under 1,000lbs of produce this year and, like Dakari, are loving those afternoon rain showers!

Join us, every Sunday from 9am-1pm

We meet at the new space

"The Co-op at 1st"
5045 W 1st Ave

Happy Harvesting from the Jovial Crew!

After

First Rainstorm

Then

Now...Veggies1

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May 30, 2017
Planting and Growing Community

By Kristina Welch | Executive Director

Julie's Family

Hello,

If you missed the channel 9 news special, I'd like to take a moment to tell you about our newest garden community, Belmar Gardens. Julie reached out in the fall after her family and neighborhood were recovering from a terrible tradgedy. There had been a shooting on her street that caused so much pain. The community felt shattered.

With tears in her eyes Julie told me her story, while her 5 and 7 year olds pulled at her arms wanting to color and munch on after school snacks. "I just want to bring our community back together, give them hope after something so terrible."

Julie thought turning her entire yard into a community garden might be a great way to raise spirits and bring neighbors back together. And it has, over 25 of her neighbors and their kids are participating with our newest garden team. To date we have built beds, expanded her irrigation, and started planting the garden. "Their are a lot of families in need in our community and we think this will be a great way to give back while preserving the dignity of anyone who may really need this food."

It has been amazing to see so much support rally around Julie's home and Jovial is honored to be a part of her mission to rebuild trust and friendship. Transforming an entire yard took over 200 volunteer hours and a good deal of funds, we hope you will consider coming out to volunteer or making a contribution to our project.

Did you know its planting time and we now have 75 gardens spanning from Lakewood to Denver and Arvada to Littleton? We hope to donate over 15,000lbs of food this year because of supporters like you.

Our super soft opening party is happening at 5045 W 1st Ave on June 11th. Feel free to join us and see some of our gardens up close, meet our team leaders and the wonderful volunteers who make this happen every year.

Links:

Channel 9 News Report

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