We’re happy to announce that during the month of June, High 5 Plumbing Cares will be supporting and promoting the important efforts of The GrowHaus where “healthy food is a right, not a privilege.”

Read more about this fantastic nonprofit below!

What is The GrowHaus, and Who Do They Serve?

The GrowHaus is a nonprofit indoor farm, marketplace, and educational center in Denver’s Globeville and Elyria-Swansea (GES) neighborhoods of North Denver. This corner of Denver is adjacent to I-70 and surrounded by industry. GES is also in a food desert. Apart from The GrowHaus, access to fresh produce is scarce and difficult to access at best.

“While GES is a vibrant and tight-knit community, residents face significant challenges related to income inequality, food injustice, and environmental degradation,” says The GrowHaus. “To combat these challenges, we partner with community residents and local organizations to provide inter-generational and experiential programs related to food and wellness.”

The GrowHaus has been an important center of the community, health, and access to quality food in this Denver neighborhood for the past ten years.

They offer a number of nourishing, empowering, life-giving resources to their community week in and week out, including:

  • A no-cost grocery delivery program
  • Various food education programs related to food justice and nutrition
  • Additional resources to improve healthy food access in our community

Their vision is “a world where all communities have the means to nourish themselves, and our mission is to create a community-driven, neighborhood-based food system by serving as a hub for food distribution, production, education, and economic opportunity.”

How is The GrowHaus responding to COVID-19?

In response to COVID-19, as of March 23rd, The GrowHaus has paused the majority of its programs to concentrate the efforts of its staff on emergency food distributions for the residents of GES.

On March 23, The GrowHaus launched their Rapid Response Food Delivery Program. They’ve quickly mobilized to conduct 3,627 home deliveries of emergency food packages to over 530 households. Each package includes a bag of food staples such as rice, beans, flour, pasta, and oatmeal, as well as fresh produce.

“Cat, our Lead Education Facilitator, has been assembling hundreds of food packages each week for our rapid response efforts. While Cat would normally be teaching and preparing for after-school and summer classes, we’ve had to mobilize our entire team to dedicate their time and energy into assembling and distributing food to our neighbors in need.”

—The GrowHaus

The GrowHaus team continues to deliver to these families each week, and the need is increasing daily. You can read more about their herculean efforts to provide for their community during the pandemic right here on their website.

Why Did High 5 Plumbing Cares Choose The GrowHaus as Its June Recipient?

“A friend of ours, Jeri Morgan of Code Blue Computing, recommended The GrowHaus a couple of months back,” says High 5 Plumbing Cares co-founder Cassi Torres. “I’ve been following The GrowHaus on social media for some time, and with everything going on [with COVID-19 and the related economic upheaval], we really wanted to spotlight a nonprofit that is helping people get food. Right now. The increase in demand for food is showing up all over the Denver metro area, so we’re really excited that we can spotlight The GrowHaus.”

As an added bonus, we were thrilled to discover The GrowHaus partners with We Don’t Waste, our April 2019 High 5 Plumbing Cares Recipient.

“Each week, we receive rescued food donations from We Don’t Waste and Denver Food Rescue to include in our emergency food packages. These include fresh produce and prepared meals that would normally be thrown away at a grocery store, but we are able to distribute them to families before they go bad.”

—The GrowHaus

How Is High 5 Plumbing Supporting The GrowHaus?

High 5 Plumbing Cares is excited to champion The GrowHaus in several ways, during the month of June and beyond.

  • We’ll provide every High 5 Plumbing client served during the month of June with info on The GrowHaus and our support of their mission, including a two-page fact sheet updated with their COVID-19 response.
  • We’ll be promoting The GrowHaus right here on our blog and on social media throughout the month.
  • Every time you buy a hat or t-shirt from our High 5 Plumbing online shop during June, we’ll donate $4 to The GrowHaus.
  • As is the case with all our High 5 Plumbing Cares recipients, we’ll deliver a donation check to The GrowHaus at the end of the month.
  • When you purchase a High 5 Plumbing Club Membership during June, we’ll donate $10 in your honor to The GrowHaus.
  • We’ll also give back 1% of the revenue generated from the High 5 Plumbing Colorado truck during the month of June. That goes directly to The GrowHaus.
  • We’re honored to support The GrowHaus to help ensure our neighbors in Denver are able to feed their families while weathering the economic and social stresses of this season.

How Can I Support The GrowHaus?

You can support The GrowHaus in a variety of ways. Here are a few:

  • Make a one-time donation
  • Give monthly through the También Membership Program (even $5 or $10 per month can make a big impact)
  • Sign up for their weekly food box subscription to support healthy food access programs, which are especially important during COVID-19
  • Spread the word about the work they’re doing by telling family and friends
  • Follow The GrowHaus on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
  • To learn more about The GrowHaus, visit www.thegrowhaus.org.

“Karla, one of our Promotoras or community health workers, assembles an emergency food package for a family in our community. Each package includes one bag of dry bulk food and one bag of fresh produce.”

—The GrowHaus

Can I Nominate a Nonprofit I Support for High 5 Plumbing Cares?

If you’d like to nominate a nonprofit you care about like Jeri did for The GrowHaus, you can submit your nomination right here on the High 5 Plumbing Cares page. Simply scroll down to the bottom of the page and fill out the form that looks like this:

As always, thanks for your support of High 5 Plumbing Cares. We look forward to hearing about the organizations around town that you care about and would like us to spotlight!

High 5 Plumbing

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