Volume 51, Issue No. 11
December 2012
A Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Publication
An Organic Oasis Envisioned in A Shared Experience of Colorado Health: a Food Desert
The Albion Group for Sustainable Living’s Project Sunshine is making plans to bring a grocery co-op to 35th & Albion By Erin Vanderberg Editor
Across the street from one of Park Hill’s oldest homes, the Robinson House at 35th and Albion, there is a parking lot with cracked asphalt. The cracks are perhaps the perfect embodiment of what this area is considered, a food desert. For one-third of Park Hill’s residents, the nearest grocery store is one mile away or more. Now picture a food oasis. It’s a place where food is celebrated and promulgated. A place where fresh vegetables are grown in abundance and year-round. A destination for grocery shoppers, but also a social hub for anyone looking to hang out or meet friends while eating healthy, organic food. That and more is what the Albion Group for Sustainable Living has in mind for 35th and Albion. Calling their enterprise Project Sunshine, the AGSL formed earlier this year and is comprised of four individuals. There are the two neighbors: Aleece Raw, proprietor of The Garden Restaurant, the face of the project and the home base via her restaurant, who has been championing the food revolution from her corner of Park Hill since she opened last February. The other
neighbor is Imam Abdur-Rahim Ali of the Northeast Denver Islamic Center at 35th and Bruce Randolph, who has long supported veterans housing for the site, and through this collaboration, is finding the support to realize that vision on the 35th and Ash corner. Then there is Denver COAction Network co-founder Joanna Whitney, whose organization works to build strong local economies by “incubating” worker-owned businesses, working in the capacity of a startup consultant. Finally, there is Leroy Smith of Green Power Services, a developer in the renewable energy field who operates offices out of Boulder and Jackson, Mississippi. The group held its first monthly meeting on November 14 at The Garden and will continue to hold monthly meetings there on the third Tuesdays of each month in order to keep the community informed and encourage grassroots input. No renderings have been developed yet, but the vision includes a second-level greenhouse over the grocery story and gardens everywhere. For more information, visit thegarden-parkhill.com/ foodhub, facebook.com/projectsunshine, or call Aleece at 303-321-5231.
Goodwill Industries Opens Outlet World on Kearney By Erin Vanderberg Editor
On Saturday, November 10, Goodwill Industries of Denver opened the doors of their newest Outlet World store at 4355 Kearney Street with a grand opening celebration. “We put up the “Now Open” sign on Friday night and we instantly got traffic,” said Randy Dohne, Vice President of Operations for Goodwill Industries. “We had to send people away and tell them to come back tomorrow.” The outlet store model gives goods another chance to be purchased after not sellGPHN Photo/Erin Vanderberg ing in Goodwill’s 26 traditional retail stores Goodwill Industries’ Matt McClellen, Salvage and Recycling Manager, Jesse Wolff, CEO and Randy Dohne, VP of Operations, stand by boxes of goods to be sorted and sold at the new Goodwill Outlet World on Ke(27 counting the Cherry Creek boutique) in arney St.The outlet provides a second purchasing opportunity for goods to get the most value out of every four weeks time. Goods are presented in long Goodwill donation and to keep more goods out of landfills. blue wheeled carts and are priced at $1.49 a pound for the first 19 pounds and down to $0.79 after 50 pounds. Dishware, shoes and media are sold at a separate rate. Trays are refreshed every 30 ing to Dohne, this is a very competitive margin with the to 45 minutes each day. major box stores, particularly considering Goodwill is dealOutlet World is part of Goodwill’s concerted effort ing in used items. to get the most value out of every donation while keepProceeds from all Goodwill thrift stores go to fund ing as many goods as possible out of landfills. Goodwill programs in the local community that seek to reverse the Industries of Denver receives an estimated 90 million cycle of poverty through career preparation and skills pounds of donations each year. Currently, 25 percent training for at-risk youth, struggling adults and indiof donations are sold at the retail stores, 25 percent are viduals with disabilities. sold at the outlets, 30-35 percent is recycled, and 15 percent (mostly furniture) goes to the landfill. AccordTo learn more, visit www.goodwilldenver.org.
december 2012
Inside this issue
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MyTeenage Angst revisits the golden age of growing up
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From the Park Hill Vantage Point
By Joe Sammen Community Partnerships Coordinator, Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved
They say every person has a story to tell and it just so happens Colorado HealthStory wants to hear yours. Modeled after NPR’s StoryCorps program, Colorado HealthStory has collected narratives on health from communities throughout Colorado since early 2011. Stories range from celebrating the birth of a baby to describing the ups and downs of living with diabetes. And the telling not only provides an outlet for people to discuss their health-related joys and challenges, but it paints a collective picture of health neighborhood by neighborhood. Earlier this year, the HealthStory staff hit the ground record- Gretchen Hammer Executive Director, ing stories in Park Hill. PAGE 2 Owetta McNeil, a Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved long-time Park Hill resident, shared her story of managing her chronic disease in order to draw attention to this critical health care issue in the neighborhood. “I’ve had my heart attacks, I have lupus, MS. I think that a lot of positive thinking... and basically understanding my own body and working with it, has brought me to where I am. It’s not 100 percent, but I’m doing the things that I enjoy doing,” said Owetta. Ms. McNeil’s story joins others from the Park Hill neighborhood, creating a unique mosaic that in itself tells a story of the issues confronting the greater Park Hill community. The HealthStory team found that Park Hill residents have a strong culture of health and wellness and take health care matters into their own hands. Despite this personal accountability, many residents spoke of their challenges living with chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. This isn’t surprising; according to the latest statistics from Denver Public Health, the greater Park Hill area has some of the highest rates of diabetes and heart disease in Denver. Many people suffering from a chronic disease aren’t able to properly manage the disease, either from lack of access to health care services, lack of health education, or for other reasons. Colorado HealthStory is hoping to change that by getting more residents involved in the conversation. Colorado HealthStory has hosted two community forums in Park Hill to provide opportunities for local residents to listen to their neighbors’ stories and to discuss local trends and health data relevant to the community. Stories are available to the public on the Colorado HealthStory website (coloradohealthstory.org), Facebook, and Twitter. “We’ve seen the power of collective story sharing in each community we’ve visited. Sharing stories is the most powerful, effective form of communication people have – and when you bring together the stories of a community, it can spark a really powerful discussion.” says Joe Sammen, Community Partnerships Coordinator for the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved, one of three partner organizations who run the project (the others are ClinicNET and the Colorado Rural Health Center). In many communities, those who face the most health hurdles are underserved populations: Latinos, low-income residents, moms, and young Coloradans. Colorado HealthStory looks to give them a voice and lend an ear. It’s true everybody has a story. But change only begins to happen when enough people tell it. That’s when the masses start to listen.
Q&A
For more information on Colorado HealthStory, or to sign up to tell your story, contact Joe Sammen of the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved at joe.sammen@ccmu.org or 720.987.9570.
Kids! Enjoy this Park Hill treasure hunt during winter break
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