CAFE Food Rescue Launches “The Hub”
After months of clean-up, renovation, repair, and inspection, CAFE Food Rescue has moved into the “old Pizza Hut” and dubbed it “The Hub”.
On Thursday, October 24, CAFE Food Rescue hosted a Launch Party to introduce The Hub to the community. Silverthorne’s Mayor, Ann-Marie Sandquist, spoke to the gathering of over 50 people, along with CFR Founder, Diane Calvin, who was joined by a couple of volunteers to “cut the ribbon.” Members of the community shared food, potluck style, and toured the improved facility.
Silverthorne Mayor Ann-Marie Sandquist speaks at ribbon cutting at The Hub.
Diane Calvin said, “CAFE Food Rescue provides the logistics, support, and now the facility so that our community members can help each other.”
CAFE Food Rescue gathers surplus food from local grocery stores, restaurants, and catering services, repackages the food as needed, and then distributes the food to local food pantries and community dinners. So far in 2024, CFR has rescued over 93,000 pounds of food, over 77,000 meals, in Summit County.
CAFE Food Rescue board members, staff, and volunteers pose in front of The Hub.
Food rescue is critical in filling the gap of meals needed in Summit County, reducing food production energy use, and fighting methane release from landfills that contributes to climate change. The “CAFE” in the organization’s name stands for Climate Action Food Equity.
When the Pizza Hut in Silverthorne closed in 2023, the Town of Silverthorne eventually purchased the property, with the intention of using the land for rerouting and widening Stephens Way as part of planned improvements to Exit 205 off of I-70. Those road improvements are years away, so in the meantime Silverthorne decided to provide use of the building to CAFE Food Rescue. The building needed months of clean-up and restoration, most of which was done by volunteers. In September 2024, the building was finally ready for use.
Volunteers put hundreds of hours of work into renovating the old Pizza Hut to make it useable for food storage and repackaging.
It makes a critical difference for CAFE Food Rescue to have dedicated space for food storage, including a walk-in refrigerator and freezer. The facility also offers space for food repackaging from large portions fit for a buffet to family-sized and individual portions. Commercial-grade kitchen equipment, from sinks to work tables, ensures sanitation and plenty of space to handle rescued food. The space is also an administrative and meeting space for the three staff members and dozens of volunteers who run the non-profit organization.
Interested in getting involved? Go to www.cafefoodrescue.org to learn about opportunities to become a food runner or food packager.
