In 2022, Denver Community Fridges grew exponentially, expanding both its core team and volunteer base, leading the organization to complete over 1,500 volunteer shifts this year. Volunteers distributed 500+ pounds of donated and rescued food each day to our fridges, providing much-needed sustenance to those who experience food insecurity across the Denver community. Throughout 2022, DCF focused on using our funds to ensure the continuance of core operations and expanded its reach to include direct mutual aid assistance to support the most vulnerable and impacted members of our community. Further, DCF expanded and established new locations across the greater Denver metro through key partnerships that will serve in perpetuity.

2022 was a difficult year across the organization and region. However, given the resiliency and resourcefulness of this community, DCF was able to overcome the challenges we faced. The organization's greatest challenge this year was capacity and staffing for both the core team and our volunteer network. DCF also experienced difficulty in some partnerships and with the city government. All of these challenges are expected for a growing organization in the mutual aid space that depends on mobilizing unpaid staff and volunteers. Due to the dedication of the team, we collectively learned how to operate efficiently, better manage partnerships, and work compliantly with the local government to provide a much-appreciated and truly essential resource. This year, we spent time restructuring to ensure we are employing a fully flattened hierarchical structure in order to better engage the community and utilize the vast amount of knowledge and resources the greater community can bring to bear, as well as learn from. Further, DCF has expanded its data collection efforts to better quantify the impact the organization has and the communities it serves in order to improve operations.

In 2023, DCF plans are focused on expanding our community engagement and data collection operations as well as diversifying our funding in order to expand our overall presence in Denver and ensure the longevity of this work. This endeavor will help DCF expand into food deserts across the Denver metro area, rescue more food than ever before, and further reduce food insecurity in the community.  

Thank you for a fantastic and fruitful year. We are looking forward to the new year and what's to come. 

- The DCF Team