Project Angel Heart Named Finalist for Denver Healthy Communities Awards

This press release was originally published here by the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment 

DENVER–March 21,2018–Today, Denver Department of Public Health & Environment announced the six finalists for the 2018 Denver Healthy Communities Awards. First launched in 2015, the Healthy Communities Awards (HCA) are intended to recognize individuals as well as public, private, and community organizations working to promote public health and environmental sustainability in Denver.Public and private organizations were among the top two finalists in three categories: Innovation, Compliance and Good Neighbor. 

The 2018 Healthy Communities Awards finalists include:

Compliance Award Finalists — Designed to encourage, recognize and reward local individuals, companies, and nonprofit organizations that have consistently met or exceeded applicable standards established through recognized best practices, regulation or certification.

  • J Street Food Truck — J Street Food Truck uses a multi-pronged approach to ensuring long-term compliance, protecting the public’s health, and exceeding health standards. This includes continuous employee training, enforcement of standard operating procedures, and the promotion of health standards throughout all operations. This high level of compliance starts with the Chef, whose motto, ‘Work Clean’, encourages staff to work cleanly from start to finish.
  • Ladder and Can — Ladder and Can is a woman-owned painting company dedicated to making Denver-area homes safe.  Through the removal of lead-based paint and by ensuring compliance as a Certified Lead-Abatement Firm, the company protects families and children from the irreparable damage that lead-based paint can cause.

Good Neighbor Award Finalists — Designed to recognize individuals and organizations that have made longstanding commitments to protecting and/or improving the environment in Denver (clean air, land, and water), those that promote healthy people through improved access to healthy food and healthy built environments, or those promoting healthy pets through activities at the animal shelter or in the community at-large.

  • Project Angel Heart – Project Angel Heart was founded in 1991 to address a major challenge facing Coloradoans living with life-threatening illness – getting the nutrition needed to heal and remain independent in their homes. Project Angel Heart’s dietitians and professional chefs create delicious menus that are designed to meet the heightened nutritional needs to those who are ill, and staff modify meals according to clients’ medical needs. Each week, Project Angel Heart prepares and delivers meals to more than 1,200 people, and the organization will serve more than 3,000 individual clients in 2018.
  • We Don’t Waste – We Don’t Waste was founded in 2009 to help feed the thousands of people in the Denver metro area struggling with hunger and to reduce the amount of food waste entering landfills. Today, We Don’t Waste operates an 11,570 square-foot Food Rescue and Distribution Center and utilizes a fleet of three refrigerated trucks to pick up and deliver high-quality food throughout Denver and the Front Range. The organization provided more 30 million servings of food (equal to more than 10 million meals) in 2017 to community members struggling with food insecurity.

Innovation Award Finalists — Designed to recognize individuals and organizations that employ innovative strategies, processes, or technologies to improve public health and/or the environment in Denver.

  • Healthy Learning Paths – Healthy Learning Paths (HLP) works with students, teachers and parents to make the connection between nutrition, sleep, fitness and learning. HLP has served more than one thousand children in five school districts. Dr. Chris Marchioni founded the organization after regularly witnessing children in her family medicine practice that were suffering from learning and attention disabilities linked to insufficient sleep, dehydration and nutrient-inadequate diets. Over the years, the organization’s programs have expanded to include mental health, empathy, and increased focus on reducing childhood obesity and type-2 diabetes.
  • Taking Neighborhood Health to Heart – Taking Neighborhood Health to Heart (TNH2H) is a community-based organization dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of residents in Northeast Denver. TNH2H has spent more than 10 years engaging local residents, University of Colorado researchers, and neighborhood businesses and organizations in community-based public health efforts in the East Montclair, Northeast Park Hill, Northwest Aurora, Park Hill and Stapleton neighborhoods. TNH2H efforts have focused on cardiovascular health, childhood obesity, healthy food access, senior social connectedness, indoor air quality and environmental health. TNH2H partners with community organizations like Regis University, University of Colorado, University of Denver, Kaiser Permanente, UCAR, American Geophysical Union, The Stapleton Foundation, Apex Radon and Hope Communities.

Finalists were selected by a panel of experts in public and environmental health. DDPHE Executive Director Bob McDonald will recognize finalists and announce the winners on April 4 from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. at the Healthy Communities Awards recognition breakfast at the McNichols Civic Center Building.

To RSVP to the awards, visit www.2018DenverHCA.eventbrite.com. For more information about the Denver Healthy Communities Awards, visit www.denvergov.org/HCAwards. 

Special thanks to Certifiably Green Denver for ensuring the HCA will be a Certified Green Event.

For more information, see originally published press release or contact Kerra Jones, Marketing & Public Relations Program Administrator at Denver’s Department of Public Health & Environment, at 720.865.5387 or Kerra.Jones@denvergov.org