Too often, people go hungry alone and in silence
Featuring Natalie Espinoza;
customer and community engagement manager
I started my journey at The GrowHaus back in the pre-pandemic world of 2019, as the Food Distribution Representative. Given my background in nutrition, I was drawn to The GrowHaus’ commitment to healthy food access. I worked part-time, supporting The GrowHaus’ community market and helping people navigate the social enterprise food box program. We had between 100-150 food box customers. A few months after I started, we made the difficult decision to close the building and COVID-19 disrupted our world as we know it.
We sprang into action for the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea community.
I started working full-time as we launched our rapid response, no-cost food box program and scaled our social enterprise food box program. Our social enterprise food box program grew to have 1,200 customers! I began working more closely with our food vendors and working to secure food for our no-cost food box program, which was serving 650 families each week. Collectively, The GrowHaus was packing and distributing almost 2,000 food boxes in Denver each week!
Natalie with the Abejitas, our multi-generational set of classes held each summer for young children and their parents or guardians.
It felt so important to never deny someone food. Too often, people go hungry alone and in silence. We need food to survive, it’s fuel for our bodies.
Natalie with Maria Campos, our Food Access Supervisor
We have been able to nurture and give our neighbors access to no-cost food, while also supporting them as they transition to our discounted food box. The discounted food box allows our community to shop with dignity and purchase organic, high-quality food. Our packing team packs each box as if they were packing for their own family.
In early 2021, I was promoted to be the Customer Service & Community Engagement Manager. In less than a year at The GrowHaus, I grew to manage a team of food packers and a program reaching hundreds of people each month. I like to think of my role as a mentor. I work to provide opportunities for our team members to grow personally and professionally, making The GrowHaus an amazing place to work.
With the support of my peers, I have been able to find my own leadership style.
The last few years have been significant in defining the history of The GrowHaus. I’m excited for this upcoming year and hoping to more deeply connect my background in nutrition and herbalism into my work with the Food Access Department.
-Natalie Espinoza
