'Dream Dinners' Are Priceless For The Less Fortunate
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (CBS4) - An exciting start to the weekend for hundreds of volunteers in Wheat Ridge as they gave up their morning to give back.
"Just an amazing group of people here today," Carol Eddy, co-owner of Dream Dinners in Wheat Ridge, said Saturday. Dream Dinners along with local and national sponsors, helped the California-based organization Friends & Family Community Connection put together 50,000 packages of food for the less fortunate.
"One third of those are going to stay here in the Denver area to help people in need with the Action Center and the rest of them will go to Haiti," Jim Eddy, co-owner of Dream Dinners in Wheat Ridge, told CBS4's Kelly Werthmann.
Each package includes dehydrated food, like vegetables as well as rice. Carol Eddy said the meals cost about 25 cents apiece, but their benefits are priceless.
"These packages reverse the effects of malnutrition," she said. "They're scientifically proven and made to do that, so they have a huge impact in the communities they treat."
Most of the packages are going to Haiti because millions of people there are homeless and without food. Ever since the tsunami in 2010, many have been living in poverty.
"These meals are the first steps in pulling them out of poverty," Jim Eddy said.
The organization delivering the meals doesn't stop at food, according to Jim. He said they also build self-sustaining communities in countries like Haiti and Tanzania.
"They start with food, they get water, health care, education, so they're really trying to change the systemic problems they have there," he said.
For information on how to help, visit Family & Friends Community Connection's website: http://www.ffccsd.org/. Those interested can also find more information through Dream Dinners in Wheat Ridge: http://dreamdinners.com/main.php?page=store&id=63.
Kelly Werthmann joined the CBS4 team in 2012 as the morning reporter, covering national stories like the Aurora Theater Shooting and devastating Colorado wildfires. She now anchors CBS4 Weekend Morning News and reports during the week. Connect with her on Facebook or Twitter @KellyCBS4.
