Broomfield FISH receives new storage shed from local high schooler

Corbett Stevenson, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
·2 min read

May 12—A high school senior and Broomfield local has spent the last year building a storage shed for Broomfield's food bank.

Broomfield Fellowship in Serving Humanity, more commonly known throughout the community as Broomfield FISH, is one of the community's most well-known nonprofit organizations. FISH is primarily known for its role as a food bank, but also provides housing and rental assistance as well as support for emotional well being.

According to Mike Lutz, FISH's food operations manager, FISH provides between 140,000 and 160,000 pounds of food to families in need across Broomfield each month. With thousands of pounds of food, some amount of waste is inevitable.

"We see roughly 1,000 to 5,000 pounds of waste a week, depending on lots of factors," Lutz said. Those factors include what donations FISH receives from grocery stores and community members.

To reduce waste and the amount of food being thrown away, FISH partners with a local pig farmer, and much of the food that is no longer fit for human consumption is given to the pigs as feed. When dealing with thousands of pounds of spoiled food, storage is an important part of the process.

"The old shed was so beat up and there were squirrels and all kinds of animals in it, so I thought it was a great idea to build a properly functioning shed," said Karthik Reddy, who attends Fairview High in Boulder but resides in Broomfield.

Reddy has been working on the shed project for nearly a year. He's been volunteering with the organization since he was a high school freshman, and came to them when it was time to choose his Eagle Scout Service Project.

An Eagle Project is part of the Boy Scouts journey, where a scout completes a project with the goal of helping and serving their community to earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

FISH suggested the project to Reddy, and he's been working on building the shed ever since.

"I looked at so many options. ... I finally settled on making a shed from scratch," he said.

The shed-building process not only involved the actual construction of the structure, but also jumping through logistical hoops of the local HOAs and city requirements. After nearly a year of work, the shed is almost complete and needs only the finishing touches.

"The biggest thing is that I'm super happy for Kathik and I can't say enough with how impressed I am at his patience, maturity and diligence," Lutz said.