Regis University to feed 400 families with food grant

While students are away, program makes sure families have a holiday meal

Regis University food pantry organizers are feeding more than 400 families this week thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.

The University’s Military and Veteran Services, which runs the campus Cupboard food pantry for students who need assistance, received the grant with only one caveat: Spend it by Dec. 31.

“We had fewer students on campus [due to the coronavirus] so we looked around and thought, ‘Let’s feed the community,’” said Fletcher Brown, director of Military and Veteran Services.

On Sunday, Dec. 20, Brown and other University staff and students will do just that: Volunteers will hand out 200 grocery bags to the families of students who participate in the University’s Porter-Billups Leadership Academy. PBLA has provided academic and leadership training to at-risk, inner-city K-12 students since 1996.

The food drive at the Northwest Denver Campus begins at noon on Sunday.

Brown’s team, working with students and staff of the St. John Francis Regis University Service Society, also bought and bagged groceries for 150 students at two nearby elementary schools. Each donation, handed out at the end of the school day on Dec. 17, included a full holiday dinner plus staples such as canned vegetables and cereal. The effort also included hundreds of hats and scarves knitted by Service Society students this fall.

Working with the Air Force Spouses Association, organizers also provided holiday meals and staples for 70 enlisted servicemen at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.

“We’ve been crazy busy,” Brown said. “But do you know what? With every corner we turn, people are excited to help, and the people getting the food are thrilled, too.”

Brown partnered with the Food Bank of the Rockies in Denver to acquire most of the food, supplementing with trips to local grocery stores.