Kim Doyle Wille

I am a native Coloradan who has worked in the hospitality industry most of my life. Throughout my adult life, I have volunteered for and/or directed non-profits and causes for the betterment of community(ies). As the recession was in full-swing and taking a toll on my life, I took stock of my skills, knowledge, and passion for helping others. Because I was personally aware of the battles of food-insecurity and it's toll on my mental and physical health, I decided to start giving people a voice about the ramifications of the Great Recession on their lives via videos I shot I shot with a FlipCam, at food pantries. and homeless shelters. In 2010, I won an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Shotbun Ride "Good Mood Mission". Volunteers helped cook food, accept fresh produce, and pass out donated free organic seeds at two food pantries. Obesity and malnutrition are two sides of the same hunger coin and prior to my mission, our region's food pantries did not accept fresh produce. During 2012, I got frustrated with the lack of progress in getting the attention of lawmakers on helping people left impoverished on the recession and turned to blogging for the Huffington Post. It didn't take long though, for me to decide to "walk my talk" by taking direct action. Since 2013, free organic seeds are distributed at 8 libraries along a 100-mile corridor from Aspen to Parachute, Colorado, and workshops are offered almost monthly through the Spring. Additionally, we've taught healthy cooking and gardening classes to food insecure children IN some of the 172 gardens we've built and/or planted around schools and food pantries, and public and private spaces. And, teen parents and at-risk youth from an alternative-ed high school, have been engaged for the past 5 years. In 2013 I also was honored to be one of the 7 winners in the 46th Pillsbury Bake-Off. [I have previously posted in HuffPo about this during one of my quests to end cuts to SNAP (food stamps).] While our website is under re-construction, one can view my/our 2013 hunger-fighting and garden-building work on the Plant A Row To End Hunger page in Facebook. Work accomplished since June last year is in our Growing Empowerment page. One should know that I pay attention to policy makers and am heavy into advocacy work through educating the public and persuasion of those policy makers.