GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — March is Women's History Month, and to celebrate, WesternSlopeNow is introducing you to remarkable women living on the Western Slope who make our community a wonderful place to live. We asked you to nominate outstanding women on the Western Slope for an award — one of those submissions was Alisha Wenger.
Alisha Wenger is the executive director of the Community Food Bank of Grand Junction — and has been since January of 2020.
"I was 60 days on the job when the pandemic hit and so essentially we really sort of went to the drawing board and had to change a bunch of things very immediately because of the pandemic."
Some of those changes included finding a permanent home for the food bank and accommodating a huge increase in the demand for services.
"We had a triple program increase and launched a new home delivery program as a result of the pandemic while simultaneously running a capital campaign to purchase our now forever home and renovate that."
Wenger says she's not surprised she ended up working for the food bank.
"I always say I've been feeding people since I could work legally. I worked in restaurants from the age 14 through 24, all through high school and college. And so it was a sort of natural progression, but I think the Peace Corps was really the catalyst for that."
Her 30 months serving in the Peace Corps was where she truly found her passion for food insecurity work.
"I really found that niche when I was in the Peace Corps where I really enjoyed sort of working to hear what a community is needing or wanting and what their vision is and really sort of helping to be the catalyst to get that over the finish line... I wanted to come home and try to work on improving food insecurity and having more equitable food systems."
She says this is an issue that hits close to home.
"I grew up in a household with food insecurity. I grew up in Clifton here in the Grand Valley and sort of all over the valley and lower-income areas, but when we were in Clifton, you know, Palisade is right there and the peaches are right there, but we could never afford them or have access to them."
Wenger says her favorite part of the work she does is seeing the impact it has.
"I just don't think anybody should go without nutritious food, you know. So it's a really joyful place to be just getting people sustenance and connecting over that."