Village Pantry

Village Exchange Center’s food access program serves Aurora and Metro Denver’s immigrants, refugees, and communities experiencing food insecurity. Through strategic partnerships, the food pantry meets our community needs for fresh produce, meals, toiletries, and diapers weekly. Having implemented an automatic text messaging system to scale our reach, the Village Exchange Center can collect data to optimize operations and provide more culturally accurate services.

Do you need food assistance?  

You can pre-register online, or you can visit our center and we can assist you with registration.

Click here to complete registration online.

 

Would you like to volunteer?

The Village Pantry needs 50-80 volunteer service hours each week to serve our community.  We welcome individuals or groups from schools, service organizations and companies. Click here to register.

Since January 2022:

  • 1,041 Families have received food support
  • 3,190 FamIndividuals ilies have received food support
  • 582,363 + pounds of food distributed

128 Volunteers Active

19,640 Diapers Sets Given

7,103 Hygiene Packages

36 Countries of Served

{

Our Village Pantry specializes in providing culturally appropriate groceries, meals and hygiene supplies to refugees and immigrants from 40 different countries. Food is distributed weekly through Curbside pickup, or mobile delivery by volunteers.

Our Refugee Food Relief Mobile Delivery program serves about 100 newly arrived refugee families per week (300-350 individuals/week). Approximately 70% of these Afghan families in spring 2022. This is a partnership with Colorado Refugee Services Program (CRSP) and several Refugee Resettlement Agencies including Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains (LFSRM), International Rescue Committee (IRC), and ECDC African Community Center (ACC). 

{

Promoting economic and business recovery post-Covid -19:

We actively work with small to medium businesses to purchase cultural and ethnic food. Check out below who we are supporting:
Lyly’s Market
Mission Produce
Green Roots
Iwaku
R Bazaar
Mujeres Emprendedoras
Juan’s Pollo
Kamariya African Restaurant
My Plate Sara Hamid
Shegar International Market
KW Market
HMart
Mi Pueblo Market
El Paisa Bread
Sara Gebre
Pupusas Paradise
East African Restaurant

Village Pantry

A point of entrée for newcomers from all over the world, the Village Pantry provides fresh and varied foods to supplement families’ weekly groceries. VEC provides healthy and nutritious foods including fresh produce, dairy, and protein items that are part of our beneficiaries’ existing dietary preferences.

The Pantry…

  • Serves 1,000 families per week
  • 82 volunteers speaking 21 different languages volunteer each week
  • Partners with 15 organizations to distribute high-quality foods
  • Provides multiple varieties of legumes and beans to beneficiaries
  • Reaches individuals representing 32 countries of origin