News release: Colorado - Denver/Boulder

October 4, 2004

For more information, call:
Jacque Murphy Montgomery
Kaiser Permanente, Media Relations Coordinator
Phone: (303) 344-7410
E-mail: Jacque.Montgomery@kp.org

Kaiser Permanente steps in to help fill food bank shelves

Donations and dollars are part of a gift to community

Denver, CO – Kaiser Permanente is giving immediate response to the call to the community to help collect food for the hungry in Colorado. The health care organization is teaming with the Broncos Wives Food Drive and its clinics will serve as drop off locations for people wishing to support the collection.

Kaiser Permanente also will provide financial support to Denver's two food banks: Compa Food Ministries and Food Bank of the Rockies. Each is receiving $25,000 from the health organization to help restock the shelves. The charities serve thousands of families in the Rocky Mountain region.

The food banks are running low on food because needy Coloradans who normally receive financial assistance from the state to buy their own food have not received payments due to computer problems. These families turned to the food banks. The extra need prompted Kaiser Permanente to get involved.

"Seeing companies like Kaiser Permanente step up to the plate to help families in need reminds us of why Denver is such a great city to call home, said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

"As a nonprofit organization, we want to help our community thrive and in times of crisis, it's good to know we can step up and do what we can to help," said Chris Binkley, president of Kaiser Permanente Colorado.

The 17 Kaiser Permanente medical offices and administrative offices throughout Denver, Boulder and Longmont will serve as drop off sites. Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Broncos Wives Food Drive can visit the clinic closest to them and leave behind their non-perishable food items. Visit www.kaiserpermanente.org to find locations of the medical offices. Donations will be collected through Nov. 15, 2004.

Kaiser Permanente is a non-profit health plan and the largest private health care provider in Colorado. It is rated among the top ten accredited health care organizations in the country for clinical quality by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Kaiser Permanente cares for more than 416,000 members in the Denver/Boulder and Colorado Springs areas. Kaiser Permanente physicians and care teams focus on prevention as well as curing disease, all in an effort to help patients live well and thrive.