Most people think of spring-cleaning as sprucing up closets and wiping down windows. This year, though, add clearing out your pantry to your to-do list as a way to help Colorado’s hungry by contributing to the Feed Colorado Food Drive. 

The drive—a partnership of Arc Thrift Stores, KMGH Television, the AARP Foundation, and Volunteers of America (VOA)—aims to collect 145 tons of food to give to VOA’s City Harvest Food Bank during the month of April. Once collected, the food will be distributed among 75 Colorado food banks. This year, the drive’s focus is on Colorado’s elderly—an extremely high-risk population for food insecurity—and low-income populations, says Jim White, the director of community affairs at VOA. “This could be the biggest drive in the history of Colorado,” he says. 

Much of the food donations will come from the efforts of Arc’s telemarketers, who schedule pick-ups with donors. This month, they will give each donor the opportunity to contribute a few food items with their original donation. The telemarketers make more than 1.5 million calls every six weeks in Colorado, says White. “They created the world’s easiest food drive,” he says. 
 

GET INVOLVED: To donate your non-perishable food items to the Feed Colorado Drive, schedule a free pick-up at feelgreatdonate.org or arcthrift.net.

—Image courtesy of Arc Thrift Stores