Week 14 - Fort Collins Friends
Oh, the joys of being back on the road again. Rested and refreshed from our holiday break we drove north to meet, yet again, another member of Josh’s family. We readjusted to the wide turns and loud road noises as we got back onto the bus, then zoomed (not really) up the interstate toward Fort Collins, Colorado. For this week I want to highlight the two individuals we spent our time with and their organizations. Both operations are awesome, and full of passion for their own causes.
Fairly common sight these days with these cold temperatures making our sweet bus a little more stubborn
Nate Shaw, cousin of Josh, runs a non-profit food rescue in Fort Collins named Vindeket. The unique name embodies their story. In their words, “the made-up word combines vindicate and advocate - we are advocates of food vindication, working towards fixing our food system and the social structures surrounding it.” Nate is one of the most well-connected individuals in Fort Collins and through his passion of making unwanted food resourceful for others has developed relationships with local food vendors (grocery stores, restaurants, and farms). Through these relationships, they donate overstocked, “expired” (but still viable) or not needed goods to Vindeket which are redistributed at the market, preventing them from going to the landfill. This market is a sight to be seen, powered by the most motivated group of volunteers I have seen on the road so far. The goods are sorted and stocked on shelves for people to shop at their will. After their shopping experience, if they can, customers have the option to donate what they can to the market. This process is awesome, those who can pay support the system for those who can’t thus giving them no-cost access to a full assortment of goods that would originally be out of reach. The environment of the market is lively during hours, volunteers are happy to be supporting a cause they believe in, and the customers get to feed their family with food they can afford, all while keeping food waste out of the landfill. This market frees individuals in Fort Collins to worry less about spending a fortune on their groceries. In fact, Vindeket donates their food frequently to the second group we worked with this week. Especially during its building year when money was slim to come by. Which was inspiring to see the web of support Vindeket offers Fort Collins.
You can learn more about Vindeket by visiting their site here.
Our sleek two tone van Nate let us borrow to travel around town in.
Can you see the relation?
A typical taco lunch in between deliveries
Having Nate around makes the bus look even better!
Dunk Johnston, fellow young lifer & absolute shredder, runs a one-of-a-kind summer camp, Camp Goodbuddy, on the outskirts of Fort Collins. It originated out of his love for skateboarding, its community, and his desire to weave the two together with one of his passions, ministry. 2020 leveled many of us, slowed our pace immensely. For Dunk. It did the opposite. He saw an opportunity. He had access to a beautiful property and a lot of time to build the perfect skate oasis. We took a trip to go see it. As we traveled into a snow filled farm, nestled in the mountain, we ventured further into the woods, until bam - a humongous skate feature (called the Dunny) appears out of nowhere. This one feature exemplifies Dunk’s motivation for his dream and the support he received from his skate community friends who believed in his vision. Being around Dunk brings energy and excitement into life, no challenge is too large for him. He envisions something and starts it. You’re lucky if you can keep up quick enough to help him, an absolute star. His hard work has paid off. Each summer, campers arrive from all over the country to enjoy the mountain skate wonderland he has created. While spending the day with Dunk, we helped retrieve some materials from the Camp Goodbuddy then returned to Fort Collins to make it come to life. We built a new quarter pipe feature that has a doorway smack in the middle, only for the boldest to show their skills over its void.
The infamous dunny
Quarterpipe with doorway
To cap off such an awesome week, we got to unwind and do one of my favorite things, ski. Joined by Josh’s cousins, Nate, and Joe (along with Joe’s Wife, Steph) AND our new friend Jane from our previous hut trip, we had ourselves an EPIC ski day, bus included this time. The LOST Bus made its first voyage into the Colorado Rocky Mountain Range, crawling up the 11,200 feet of Berthoud Pass to enjoy some fabulous backcountry skiing with no wait lines, but necessary hitch hikes back to the top of the pass. To save some efforts we spent the second half of our day skiing inbounds at nearby Winter Park Resort. Which parking was hard to come by so we had to make our own spot, we offered a peace offering to the parking employees and they responded with their appreciation. We skied hard all day long, then enjoyed a nice grilled dinner in the ski parking lot. I was extremely grateful to ride comfortably in our bus into a nice ski venture. It was even better having friends around sharing the same excitement of skiing along with the joys and laughter of good company.
Ski runs atop Berthoud Pass
Trying to make fast friends to have a ride back to the top
Our peace offering
Their response
But nothing beats a end of ski day grill out
Being around the famous figures of Fort Collins this week has us amped. It’s the passion that helped these unique causes grow exponentially. I already know I’ll look back a year from now and be in awe of where they’re at and the leadership that got them there. Looking into the future, we’ll be leaving chilly Colorado, finally, and head for warmer weather (hopefully) in New Mexico. Thanks to some Lubbock, Texas, connections, we’ll be working with individuals serving around and in Native America Reservations. This is one of my favorite parts - as we travel out of areas once unfamiliar to us, the people we’ve met propel us to other places where our services can be utilized.