DENVER – The nonprofit organization We Don’t Waste will host a free food market at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Friday.
We Don’t Waste collects high-quality food from restaurants and food producers throughout the Denver-metro and distributes it to people in need.
“We are not your typical food bank at all,” said We Don’t Waste Agency and Food Acquisition Manager Matthew Karm. “We have over 58 neighborhoods identified in the Denver metro area that we attend to, as well as six to eight mobile food markets to distribute food to those who are struggling.”
Karm said We Don’t Waste dispatches teams to restaurants and other food producers to pick up unused, high-quality food.
According to We Don’t Waste, 40% of all good food is thrown away due to overproduction and other factors.
Using that food, Karm said the organization has been able to address food insecurity.
“Last year we served over 20 million servings of food to people in need, which I think is spectacular especially during the pandemic,” Karm said.
We Don’t Waste partners with several businesses in the metro area, including Seattle Fish Company.
“I‘ve been involved with We Don’t Waste for over three years. I heard about them and I was working with another manufacturer and I had some product that I knew was good quality and wanted somebody to use it,” said Peter Rauen, the Seattle Fish Company Corporate R&D Chef . “Where I really got involved and hooked is I went to one of their mobile markets and saw the need ... and it just was overwhelming.”
The food market at Dick's Sporting Goods Park will be held in Lot G from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.