Mesa Verde Staff Expand Food Bank Gardens, Boost Local Food Security

On December 20, 2025 a group of employees from Aramark Destinations at Mesa Verde National Park volunteered roughly 80 hours to help the Good Samaritan Food Bank expand its community garden beds. The company valued the project at approximately three thousand dollars in materials and labor, and it estimated the added beds would roughly triple the food bank’s capacity to grow fresh produce for local distribution. In addition to the construction work, Aramark donated more than two thousand dollars in food to local food banks as part of broader community support efforts tied to its 2025 initiative to support gateway communities around national parks.

The practical outcome is an immediate boost in locally grown fruits and vegetables available to food assistance networks that serve Montezuma County and neighboring rural areas, including Dolores County. For residents who rely on regional food banks, increased garden production can mean more frequent access to fresh produce, which supports healthier diets and can reduce risk factors for chronic diseases linked to poor nutrition. In rural communities where transportation and retail options are limited, bolstering local production addresses not just quantity of food but dietary quality and dignity of distribution.

This collaboration also highlights the role of regional employers and concessionaires in meeting social needs beyond tourism services. Volunteer labor and in kind donations provided by a major park concessionaire demonstrate one model of private sector engagement that augments charitable capacity. Yet the project also underscores persistent structural challenges. Sustaining increased fresh produce availability requires ongoing investment in growing infrastructure, storage and distribution, as well as policies that support food assistance logistics in rural counties.

For Dolores County residents the expanded garden at Good Samaritan is a tangible improvement in the regional safety net. It will not solve underlying poverty or access barriers on its own, but it provides immediate relief and a foundation for longer term partnerships between parks concessionaires, food banks and local health and social service agencies. Continued coordination and policy support will be needed to translate one time volunteer efforts into sustained, equitable gains in community food security.