Fill the Van food drive is Saturday
EDWARDS — Colorado Mountain Express’s (CME) 18th Annual Fill the Van food drive will take place on Saturday, when thousands of pounds of food will be collected for food banks across Colorado’s mountain communities. CME vans will be parked outside of grocery stores throughout Summit County, Eagle County and the Roaring Fork Valley for collections between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
As part of a joint fundraising effort between CME, Vail Resorts EpicPromise, the Vail, Avon, and Eagle police departments, Eagle County Sheriff’s Department, and 9NEWS’ 9Cares Colorado Shares state-wide food drive, the collected donations will remain in the county in which they were donated. Beneficiaries include Family & Intercultural Resource Center (FIRC) in Summit County, Vail Valley Salvation Army, and Lift Up in the Roaring Fork Valley.
“Fill the Van, now in its 18th year, helps restock food pantry shelves at a crucial time of the year,” said John Dawsey, vice president and general manager of CME. “With one in six Coloradans reporting difficulty affording enough food, the donations make a significant contribution in the communities where we operate.”
Food and monetary donations will be collected between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday at the following collection sites in Eagle County:
Avon – City Market
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Avon – Wal-Mart
Eagle – City Market
Edwards – Village Market
Gypsum – Bella’s Market
In addition to Saturday’s collections, Eagle County local police departments and emergency responders will visit Eagle County schools to collect donations on Friday, Nov. 13. Teachers and school administrators set forth a challenge to each grade to collect the most food.
“CME’s Fill the Van food drive has been helping to replenish our pantry shelves for years at a time when they are historically low, as well as to augment our Holiday Food Baskets,” said Tsu Wolin-Brown of the Vail Valley Salvation Army. “We are extremely appreciative of the coordinated effort between Colorado Mountain Express and EpicPromise, as we simply could not accomplish all of our community assistance efforts without these amazing partnerships.”
Vail Resorts, CME’s parent company, is also participating in Fill The Van and 9NEWS’ 9Cares Colorado Shares food drive at its Broomfield headquarters on Saturday, Nov. 14. All donations from this effort will benefit Food Bank of the Rockies in Denver. Each year, departments within Vail Resorts compete against each other in an attempt to collect the most food donations from employees. Vail Resorts has participated in the 9NEWS’ 9Cares Colorado Shares food drive for the past four years as part of the company’s EpicPromise program.
