Good morning friends of Care and Share!

Please enjoy this month’s staff highlight:

Denise Meredith started as the Cooking Matters Coordinator at Care and Share in 2012 and moved into the USDA Programs Manager role in 2013. Denise coordinates ordering, allocating, and delivering The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and Commodities Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) product to recipient agencies throughout Southern Colorado. She also ensures that all 47 TEFAP and 37 CSFP agencies adhere to State and Federal program regulations, that clients are being served well, and that food is being treated in a safe manner.

A longtime food banker, she began her career working with the Kids Cafe program at Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County where she expanded the program while improving the nutritional quality of the foods provided through Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program.

A firm believer in the power of food banks partnering with federal nutrition programs to improve the nutritional status of low income families, she is thrilled to work every day to support many of Care and Share’s partner agencies, providing nutritious foods to over 25,000 clients every month!

When asked what Denise likes most about her job, she said, “every day I get to work with a great group of people to solve problems and make things just a little bit better for our neighbors in need across Southern Colorado.”

Fun tidbits! 
When her daughter was young, Denise worked for a time as an EMT on an ambulance. She said, “I am careful to this day at all intersections!”

Denise’s favorite Thanksgiving food is Pumpkin Pie, “and I argue with my husband every year as to whether this constitutes an appropriate breakfast food the next day.”

She lives in the woods west of Larkspur with her husband and their two dogs Moose and Bear.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!