How One GirlTREK Crew Turned Their Walks Into Food Security for Seniors
When Pam laced up her walking shoes and joined GirlTREK in 2016, she was simply looking after herself. She had no way of knowing that one small act of self-care would one day mean the difference between hunger and a warm meal for a 92-year-old neighbor.
Pam leads organizing for Caregivers at GirlTREK and is a proud resident of Montbello — a close-knit Denver neighborhood with deep roots and resilient people. For years, her walking crew moved through those familiar streets together, building the kind of trust that only comes from showing up for one another, week after week, walk after walk.
When the pandemic arrived — everything changed.
In the spring of 2020, as the Mayor's stay-at-home orders swept across the city, Pam looked around her neighborhood and saw something that broke her heart: Montbello's elders were stranded. Seniors who had spent decades building this community — suddenly couldn't board a bus or walk to a grocery store. They were going without fresh food. They were going without enough food.
Pam didn't wait for someone else to solve it. She rallied her walking crew, and together, they offered a "Food for Seniors" care initiative — going door to door, delivering fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy supplemental food to the neighbors who needed it most.
What happened next left the crew breathless.
Within a few months, they began noticing something remarkable in the seniors they were serving. Better posture. Brighter eyes. Stronger strides. The elders who had once seemed diminished by isolation were standing taller, moving with more balance and endurance, greeting the crew with laughter and enthusiasm where there had once been quiet worry. Nourishment, it turned out, was about far more than food.
The walking crew couldn't stop there. What began as mobile deliveries for seniors facing food insecurity, blossomed into community care available in the Montbello community in the present day. The Montbello walking crew launched healthy cooking classes where generations and cultures gathered around the same table — and the elders became the teachers. Dishes rooted in China, Vietnam, Ghana, Nigeria, and Mexico filled the room with aroma and story and pride. Food became a bridge across cultures, a reclamation of dignity, a celebration of the lives these elders had lived.
Today, what Pam started out of love and urgency has grown into something extraordinary. Every Monday, food pantries open their doors at rotating locations across Montbello, Aurora, and Northeast Denver — reaching thousands of Colorado residents and visitors who now have access to fresh, healthy food and a community that sees them.
All of this began with a woman who went for a walk.
Our donors make it possible for leaders like Pam to keep walking — toward the hungry, the isolated, and the forgotten — and to bring them back into the community. Investing in GirlTREK is not just funding footsteps. It’s funding the remarkable things that happen when crew members decide to care for each other and never stop.