The Pueblo Food Project is growing food, building community and connecting generations across Pueblo through free edible gardens and cooking classes, to name just a few of the nonprofit's initiatives.
You'll find one of those edible gardens behind the Pueblo Arts Alliance building off South Grand Avenue in downtown Pueblo.
There are 12 garden beds filled with vegetables and herbs open to anyone who wants to pick from them at no cost. It is one of several edible landscapes the community coalition maintains across the city.
"It doesn't matter who it is, doesn't matter who you are, this produce is available to you," said Megan Cover, director of The Pueblo Food Project.
The landscapes are funded by grants and maintained by staff and volunteers. Cover leads the nonprofit, which operates on multiple fronts.
"We have the coalition side, which is community members working on different initiatives to make a better food system," said Cover. "We have an entrepreneur program for food businesses, so they go through a class and learn more about growing their business, and we have community gardens like this."
The Pueblo Food Project also organizes free cooking classes around the city. One of those classes is a 10-week program bringing together senior citizens and youth.
"We get to interact with the kids that come," said Linda Phelps, a cooking class attendee. "We've met some real nice kids from Girls and Boys Club."
The goal of the classes is to create connections and a sense of belonging among different groups of people.
"We get to do a lot of sharing of our different experiences, sharing food traditions and recipes, and then just learning all the new cooking skills together," said Lindy Webb, food skills education manager.
It's the kind of work we at News 5 like to honor with the News 5 Lighthouse Award. The award recognizes those who go above and beyond to make their community better.
"I always just say how thankful I am to be able to do a job like this," said Cover. "It's hard to complain when I get to spend the whole morning planting with my amazing coworkers and wonderful volunteer(s). (I'm) thankful that we get to spread the joy and the love of food, which everyone already has. We just get to expand that."
The Pueblo Food Project has helpful resources to free food pantries locally and across the nation. Click here for more information.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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