Operation Frontline

Operation Frontline Colorado

More than 12 million children are at risk of hunger in America; in Colorado, one in seven children are hungry or at risk for malnutrition.

Twenty-one percent of children in Denver are living in poverty and are at risk of hunger. Share Our Strength's Operation Frontline is a groundbreaking nutrition education program that helps families help themselves by teaching them how to prepare healthy low-cost meals.

Professional chefs and nutritionists volunteer their time and expertise to lead hands-on courses instructing adults, teens and kids living on a low-income how to get the most nutrition out of a limited budget.

Last year Operation Frontline Colorado coordinated 72 courses that impacted a total of 5,553 families. In 2009 our goal is to provide 108 courses in our sixteen county service area.

Chefs Up Front Event is March 21, 2010

Chefs Up Front is a unique culinary extravaganza to benefit Operation Frontline Colorado. On March 21, 2010 guests will have a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the metro-area's top chefs, as each chef hosts and prepares a tableside, multi-course dinner for 10, showcasing the style and cuisine of his or her restaurant. Dishes are expertly paired with wine selections from around the world.

All of the proceeds from Chefs Up Front are used to fund Operation Frontline, Colorado's highly regarded approach to fighting hunger and malnutrition through culinary education. Last year's Chefs Up Front Dinner raised more than $70,000 for the organization's anti-hunger efforts.

More than 20 of the metro-area's best restaurants are participating, including: Argyll Pub, Avenue Grill, Beatrice & Woodsley, Bistro Vendome, Black Pearl, Centerplate Catering, Elway's Cherry Creek, Encore, Jax Fish House, Jonsey's Eat Bar, Lolo, Parisi/Firenze a Travola, The Oceanaire, Opus, Restaurant Kevin Taylor, Root Down, Second Home, Steuben's, Table 6, The Lobby, Venue Bistro and Vesta Dipping Grill.

Chefs Up Front kicks off with a cocktail reception and silent auction at 5:30 pm, followed by a sit-down dinner and live auction at 7:00. For more information, please contact Operation Frontline Colorado at (303) 892-8480, e-mail Carrie Packard, or purchase tables and tickets on-line.

Colorado Launches Campaign to End Childhood Hunger

November 24th, 2009 marked the day that political and community support came together to solve the problem of childhood hunger in Colorado. Gov. Bill Ritter, Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien, the Colorado Coalition to End Hunger and Share Our Strength announced the "Campaign to End Childhood Hunger in Colorado" by 2015.

In a letter proudly read by a student at Place Bride Academy, President Obama states "Our children's ability to grow, learn, and meet their full potential depends on regular access to healthy meals." Eliminating barriers to the access of free school breakfast and summer meal programs, the Campaign to End Childhood hunger will connect federal programs to food insecure children.

The campaign will be led by a statewide working group of businesses, religious, educational, agricultural and civic leaders. Recognizing that fewer than 38% of eligible children in Colorado receive free school breakfast and only 8.2% of eligible children receive summer meals, millions of dollars of additional federal support will flow to Colorado. This will ensure that children will be helped without stress the state's budget.

Share Our Strength's founder, Bill Shore, states "SOS's mission is to surround kids with nutritious food where they live, learn and play." This campaign will help close the gaps between Colorado kids in need and the federal programs that can help them. "Colorado is among the first states," says Bill Shore, "to work with SOS to eradicate childhood hunger by 2015."

Pantry Project

Accessing food is only one barrier faced by food-insecure families in Colorado. There are many food pantries in metro Denver that families in need have access to. Demand at these pantries is higher than ever in the economic downturn. However, many nutritious items such as eggplant and zucchini often stay on pantry shelves because families do not know how to incorporate these foods into healthy and delicious meals. With the Pantry Project, Operation Frontline is working to reverse this trend through education by working side-by-side with local food pantries. Operation Frontline Colorado (OFLC) is currently working with 11 different pantries, and hopes to add 10 more pantries by June of 2010.

There are many ways that OFLC's Pantry Project is able to help food pantries better serve the families who access the food. By helping to train the pantry staff and volunteers on topics of general nutrition, packing a nutritious pantry box, and stocking a pantry, OFLC creates a channel of education from pantry to consumer. In addition, OFLC supplies pantries with flavorsome recipes that cost families no more than $1.40 per serving.

Educated pantry staff members and volunteers are better prepared to help their clients not only to access more nutritious food boxes, but to know how to make nutritious meals with the food. Our philosophy is to promote families' well-being by providing education on the nutritional value and variety of foods at the pantries. Educated clients know how to better use the food provided to them to benefit themselves, their families, and their communities.

Food Drive

Would your club, church, office, scout troop, school, university, neighborhood, friends like to do a food and/or supply drive for our nutrition education families? We plan to teach 70 - 75 courses this year reaching 750 families and that means we need lots of food, supplies and grocery cards. This is an opportunity to get your whole family involved! And share your passion and experience with helping OFLC end childhood food insecurity and hunger.

We would like to recognize those who have participated and donated goods to our program this year: Matt Carek and his team at Webroot Software.

Here's what we need most for our 2009 program year-

Food:

  • 350 - 24 or 32 oz. bottles of canola oil
  • 300 - 1 lb. packages WHOLE GRAIN pasta
  • 300 - 1 lb. bags WHOLE GRAIN brown rice
  • 200 - 1 lb. packages pearl barley
  • 100 - 64 oz. bottles of 100% fruit juice, any flavor
  • 150 - 10 oz. bottles of Low Sodium soy sauce
  • 20 boxes low-fat granola (without raisins, please
    • !)
  • 40 - 12 oz. bottles honey

Supplies:

  • 1000 - Large paper plates
  • 1000 - 8 oz. Disposable cups
  • Gallon zip lock bags
  • Quart zip lock bags
  • Sandwich-size zip lock bags
  • Aluminum foil
  • Plastic wrap

Grocery gift cards:

  • 350 - $10.00 gift cards to King Soopers or Safeway

Please call the Operation Frontline office, 303.892.8480, for tips on how to conduct the food drive and we will send you a toolkit.

Operation Frontline Colorado is located at 2727 Bryant Street, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80211, Phone:(303)892-8480