COLORADO SPRINGS — On the same day many front line workers in Colorado are getting the vaccine they need, one local company is helping make sure they also have something else they need.
Colorado Springs-based Food Maven is teaming up with Centura Health, which operates hospitals throughout Colorado and Kansas, to give out groceries to front line workers.
For the people behind Food Maven, their mission is pretty clear.
“Food Maven is focused on reducing food waste in the community,” said Food Maven Vice President of External Affairs Megan Cornish.
Since they started up here in the springs 5 years ago, they’ve found plenty of that.
“It’s just astounding how much food gets thrown away in the food system,” Cornish said.
Food--that is perfectly good.
“Products coming off a farm that are too large, too small, misshapen, off color,” she said. “Things like that where a chef can still utilize it, but it doesn’t look perfect enough to go to the grocery store.”
That’s where Food Maven steps in.
“On our online marketplace, chefs and institutional kitchens are able to shop for these products,” Cornish said.
But many of their restaurant clients are operating at reduced numbers right now.
“So we lost some of our business there temporarily,” she said.
That left them with extra food, in need of a place to go. Then, one of their other clients called them up.
“Centura Health reached out to us,” she said.
Centura Health is the operator of local hospitals like Penrose, St. Francis, and St. Mary Corwin.
“They’re offering their employees boxes of groceries for free,” she said.
This Thursday, Food Maven will deliver those groceries to some very deserving front line workers at Centura’s hospital in Littleton.
“In the box we have eggs, we have cheese. hemp burgers, sausage. we also have some macaroni and cheese,” Cornish said.
It’s a token of appreciation
“It’s no cost to healthcare workers,” she said.
.And it’s a solution to keep that perfectly good food, with great people.
