For over 12 years, just off Wadsworth Boulevard, Joy's Kitchen has provided food for over 5,000 families a month in the Jefferson County area. But now, the Denver area nonprofit has to find a new space for its distribution and is hoping that the community can help it fundraise to be able to continue its mission of mercy.
The organization was founded 13 years ago by Cathleen Stanley, who has had help running the nonprofit from her sons, Aiden and Phoenix.
"It's been truly amazing seeing what we've been able to do for our community," Aiden said. "Feeding them, clothing them, giving them a community to talk to. It started in our kitchen when I was seven years old."
Now 20, Aiden has grown to be something of an operations manager while Phoenix handles most of the partnerships with local grocery stores. Over time, Joy's Kitchen has made inroads with providers to take food that is past the sell-by or expiration date -- food that may still be good but would otherwise be thrown away -- and redistribute it to families in need.
"Our efforts are to recover as much viable food from waste as possible and give that freely out to the community at large in need," Cathleen explained. All in all, she says, the organization saves roughly two million pounds of waste per year.
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Cathleen Stanley discusses needing to raise funds to relocate her nonprofit Joy's Kitchen, which feeds about 5,000 families per month in and around Jefferson County. CBS
The food is taken into their 2,000 square foot space underneath Westwoods Church, where it's checked for mold or any other types of irregularities that would make it inedible. Those pieces of food that don't pass the test are composted, while the rest are set to be able to be given primarily to families living in food insecurity. While they had hoped that there would be construction of a new building on the Westwoods Church campus that would give Joy's Kitchen a permanent home, only enough was raised for improvements to the main building.
After over 12 years in that space near Wadsworth, Joy's Kitchen has five months to find a distribution space. They have been able to find possible spaces for the pickup and organization of food as well as a community space, but the actual environment to distribute has been difficult to acquire under a reasonable monthly leasing price. Joy's Kitchen is entirely volunteer-funded.
"We've had a challenging time finding a space to serve all of the community, and by all of the community, we mean all of the community," added Cathleen.
"We would love to see somebody in the community reach out to us with a space that they might be willing to share with us for a reasonable price," Kevin Clement, who is on the Joy's Kitchen Board, chimed in.
Over on its website, joyskitchen.com, the group is fundraising to try and either find a potential partner on the space or be able to simply afford the lease themselves. As trucks continue to come in three days a week, bringing food that is eventually doled back out to a community that needs help, perhaps now more than ever.
"It's important for our environment to save that millions of pounds of waste, but it's also important for us to serve that growing need in our community," Cathleen concluded.
Andrew Haubner
Your Reporter Andrew Haubner specializes in reporting about Jefferson County in Colorado. Share you story ideas with him by sending an email to yourreporter@cbs.com.