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Volunteers from the Colorado Farm Bureau showed up in Cortez last week to help distribute pallets of food and supplies to the Good Samaritan Center food pantry.<\/p>\n
The Durango Food Bank received a shipment of food and essentials on April 23 but faced a distribution dilemma \u2013 much of it was headed to other food resource hubs, including in Montezuma and Archuleta counties, and delivery would take some time.<\/p>\n
So volunteers from the Colorado Farm Bureau and other local farmers and ranchers jumped in to support the delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all happy to help,\u201d said Charly Minkler, president of the La Plata County Farm Bureau, in a statement. \u201cPutting food on the table is what we do as farmers and ranchers \u2013 plus it\u2019s part of the Farm Bureau\u2019s founding mission. I\u2019m really glad we could be of service.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday morning, the volunteers showed up to the Durango Food Bank to wrap pallets and load boxes into a line of waiting vehicles \u2013 flatbeds, dually trucks and pickups with trailers. A forklift driven by volunteers from Milligan Honey Farms helped speed up the process.<\/p>\n
Volunteers then drove the goods to their respective sites. In Cortez, they were taken to the Good Samaritan Center food pantry on Beech Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe genuinely care about our communities and our customers,\u201d said Mark Craig, the Southwest agency manager for Colorado Farm Bureau Insurance, a primary benefactor to the Farm Bureau organization.<\/p>\n
Farm Bureau Insurance companies in six states \u2013 including Colorado \u2013 are collaborating to jointly donate $2.3 million to help food banks in the current COVID-19 crisis, according to Craig.<\/p>\n