Restoring Hope in Times of Tragedy

When Joe woke up on May 14th, he had no idea where his truck route would take him.

“As soon as I heard, I called my wife and told her, ‘You’ll never guess where I’m going.’”

Joe has worked as a truck driver for King Soopers for over 16 years, and both of his daughters and his son-in-law work for the grocery store chain too. He hadn’t been to the Boulder store since the horrific shooting took place on March 22; when he pulled up, the full weight of the tragedy set in.

When King Soopers made the decision to remodel the Table Mesa store, they knew that they wanted to rehome the food that had been left on the shelves since late March. To honor the lives lost, they made the decision to donate it all to Community Food Share.

“For us, in the face of this horrific tragedy, the only decision was to do something good with the stores inventory,” said Jessica Trowbridge, Corporate Affairs Manager at King Soopers. “Our desire is that this donation truly honors the victims, their families and our associates; and we hope that these meals will help restore hope to our community.”

Joe poses in the King Soopers truck while dropping off a donation from the Table Mesa store.

Thanks to the generosity of the King Soopers team, we received nearly half a million pounds of product to distribute to our neighbors facing hunger. Not only is it the largest single donation our organization has received in its forty-year history, but it is also the most diverse — including items that are rarely donated. We were sent a wide variety of food tiems, specialty products, and a vast selection of condiments and spices that will help families cook with joy and dignity.

After a year of such turmoil, the donation is making an incredible impact for the one in eight people experiencing food insecurity locally. As a community hub, our food bank is ushering this product out through our local hunger relief network, amplifying its impact.

While the shooting hit close to home for Joe, the opportunity to help redistribute the food to people in need meant a lot to him. “It makes me feel proud to work for King Soopers,” he remarked. “I know this food is going to do a lot of good for people.”

Community Food Share is honored to have been trusted with this monumental donation to honor the lives of our neighbors Denny Stong, Neven Stanisic, Rikki Olds, Tralona Bartkowiak, Suzanne Fountain, Teri Leiker, Officer Eric Talley, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray, and Jody Waters.