Centennial Citizen 060922

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Centennial Citizen $1.001

Week of June 9, 2022 June 9, 2022

An edition of the Littleton Independent A publication of

VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 29

Hundreds attend Centennial Center Park’s 10th anniversary celebration

More money. Less food. Greater demand Inflation hits food banks around metro area BY ROBERT TANN RTANN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Centennial Mayor Stephanie Piko gathered a group of young children at the Friday celebration to take photos in front of the DJ in PHOTO BY TAYLOR SHAW the plaza of Centennial Center Park.

Facility created in 2012 was first city-owned park BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

When 8-year-old Tyler Ricks received a handwritten note from Centennial Mayor Stephanie Piko inviting him to the June 3 celebration of Centennial Center Park turning 10, he knew he had to come. Ricks, who recently finished second grade at Fox Hollow Elementary School, originally sent Piko a persuasive note about the need for more trampoline parks as part of a class assignment. Piko wrote back SEE CELEBRATION, P6

Michelle Franco’s six daughters each got their face painted at the June 3 celebration. From left to right: Ashley Anaya, 15; Lulu Hernandez, 4; Zoe Hernandez, 2; Aaliyah PHOTO BY TAYLOR SHAW Mahmood, 7; Emily Hernandez, 3; and Chloe Anaya, 11.

INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 22

DEVASTATION TO DELIGHT Artists forge wonderful works from wildfire’s remains P14

Before he’s left the food bank’s parking lot, Zachary Mullins sits in partial shade and eats a handful of fresh strawberries and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from his brown cardboard box. He’s been getting food from Integrated Family Community Services, one of the largest food banks in the Denver metro area, once a week for the past two years. “I rely on this food bank,” said Mullins, who lost his job and home in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now he lives homeless in Englewood, near where IFCS is based. But the nonprofit is facing a difficult reality as it contends with 40-year-high inflation rates and a bottle-necked supply chain. It means paying more money for less food even as demand rises. A growing need According to Todd McPherson, IFCS’s director of development, the nonprofit distributed over 364,000 pounds of food between January and May of last year. This year, totals are estimated around 406,000 pounds between those same months. But McPherson said the center needs about 172,000 more pounds to meet current demand. And it is unlikely to get that soon. “What we saw in the past has drastically changed,” McPherson SEE FOOD, P10


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