Out There Colorado reports Vail resorts has donated to 4,500lbs to local food banks, schools, organizations, and mountain communities after an abrupt end to the ski season. To avoid wasting over 2 tons of food stored at a Keystone Resort warehouse, Leadville Mayor Greg Labbe and a team of locals made a large delivery to the St. George’s Episcopal Church for community meals and food distribution.
“We sent an urgent request for food donations. The next day, Vail Resorts donated more than 4,000 pounds of fresh produce and food items from the Keystone Resort warehouse. The food was delivered to St. George’s Episcopal Church for community meals and food distribution. We are very grateful for the timely response and humanitarian support from Vail Resorts.”-Lake County Community Fund Executive Director John McMurtry
Breckenridge has also been making donations after closing including 5,500 pounds of food to local food banks and surplus N95 masks and gloves to support emergency and healthcare professionals.
MORE FROM VAIL RESORTS ON DONATIONS:
Our restaurants serve thousands of skiers and snowboarders each season. When we made the crucial decision to close our North American ski resorts for the season due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19, our employees took immediate action to ensure that perishable food didn’t go to waste.
More than 50,000 pounds of excess food has been donated to 30 local food banks, schools, and community organizations in the places we live, work, and play. Deliveries of items like fruits, vegetables, cheeses, juices, and granola bars have gone to our mountain communities across the continent, from British Columbia to Colorado to New Hampshire, including:
In British Columbia, Whistler Blackcomb donated approximately 20 pallets of food. Food from their warehouse was delivered to food banks in Whistler, Pemberton, and Squamish, and six pallets of food were sent to Vancouver and the Fraser Valley to support various charitable organizations, food banks, and soup kitchens. In addition, the resort donated 2,000 CLIF BARs to the Whistler Food Bank.
In California, a Northstar California Resort truck, loaded to maximum capacity, delivered food to the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District (TTUSD). This food will be used to continue the student lunch program, which provides free meals to kids under 18, now through grab-and-go meals that can be picked up every weekday.
“In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to help mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19 in our community, we closed our local schools on March 16, and transitioned to distance learning,” says Kelli Twomey, parent and community relations coordinator for TTUSD. “We know that many of our children rely on us to receive their main meal of the day and our district is proud to be offering free ‘grab and go’ meals (with lunch and breakfast for the next day) for anyone 18 and under while we’re closed. Our district is so appreciative of Northstar’s truckload donation of fresh fruit and veggies, milk, meats, soups and more which enhanced the meals we are offering our kids!”
In Colorado, Leadville Mayor Greg Labbe and a local team picked up approximately 4,000 pounds of fresh produce and food items from the Keystone Resort warehouse. The food was delivered to the St. George’s Episcopal Church for community meals and food distribution.
“Over the last week, our region has been heavily impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19,” says John McMurtry, executive director of the Lake County Community Fund. “At our Lake County community meals program and food distribution center at St. George’s Episcopal Church, we had 180 people show up Tuesday evening for food distribution and had to turn back 30. We sent an urgent request for food donations. The next day, Vail Resorts donated more than 4,000 pounds of fresh produce and food items from the Keystone Resort warehouse. The food was delivered to St. George’s Episcopal Church for community meals and food distribution. We are very grateful for the timely response and humanitarian support from Vail Resorts.”
These donations are in line with the company’s EpicPromise platform, which invests in the sustainability of our mountain communities, supports employees through the EpicPromise Employee Foundation, and preserves the environment by reaching a zero net operating footprint by 2030 – including zero waste to landfill.
This content was originally published here.