DENVER — The words "renewal," "rebirth" and "reawakening" have perhaps never been more appropriate than they are right now in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood.
“It’s monumental,” said Donna Garnett, executive director of the Montbello FreshLo Initiative.
The groundbreaking of the Montbello FreshLo Hub is a project years in the making. The $85 million hub comes not by the hands of some big investor from another city or state, but by the hands of a community lifting itself up and building a better tomorrow.
“There is strength in us, and we move for the good of each other,” said Vernon Jones, Jr., lead pastor of Kinship Church in Denver.
He said the community there is special because it refuses to accept what other people perceive about it.
The FreshLo Hub is the result of grants, tax credits, small donations, grassroots fundraising and more.
It will feature affordable housing, a theater, a performance hall, retail, arts, and perhaps most importantly, a grocery store in one of Denver’s most notable food deserts. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock did not hold anything back on that point.
"We have a grocery store market that has refused to come into the community even though they spend millions of dollars in groceries... I think it’s really unfortunate,” he said. "I’m proud of this community because they didn’t leave it in the hands of just elected officials to respond, or the marketplace to respond. They went out and created the opportunity for themselves."
Hancock said there's no way to know just how big the impact will be.
"It’s going to bring healthy food options for a community that, quite frankly, has been underserved and overlooked," he added.
Rather than a traditional grocer like King Soopers or Safeway, FreshLo will be a nonprofit, mission-driven grocer.
“It’s Daily Table,” Garnett said. “They are really focused on the mission of getting healthy food into communities like ours. The people who live in this community love it, and we want to make it possible for them to have their children and grandchildren live here, as well.”
“Our family has lived in Montbello since 1967,” Jones said. “My grandmother lives in the same house 56 years later, so this is a very big deal for us.”
