We live in a beautiful city, but as many of us drive around Denver, we see people asking for spare change, jobs or help. Do your kids ever ask questions about the homeless or why there are kids living in shelters? Do you know how to answer?

For 120 years, Denver Rescue Mission, along with support from the community, has been serving the homeless and low-income population. What better way to answer your kids’ questions, than to get involved.

Whether you have an hour a month or only a few days out of the year, there are multiple ways for you to get involved with your family at the Mission. You can become a mentor, serve a meal, take a tour of our locations, and much more.

Pizza Farm

The Pizza Farm is a free, fun and educational opportunity that is open May 1-31 and August 14-September 14, 2012. The Pizza Farm is a circular garden that is divided into eight pie-shaped “slices” (like a giant pizza) and grows or grazes all the ingredients needed to make a farm fresh pizza! All visitors will be given a wagon tour and experience other areas of our 209-acre working farm, including the dairy, pasture raised beef, goats, chickens, honey bees and much more.

Pizza Farm is has no age restrictions but it’s for groups of 15 or more – great for a group of friends, church group, etc. It is located at the Denver Rescue Mission’s rehabilitation farm – Harvest Farm (4240 East County Road 66 Wellington, CO 80549). To visit, please register here. For more information on the Pizza Farm, please visit the website.

Serve a meal at Denver Rescue Mission

The Crossing – Minimum age 10 years-old

Breakfast Shift: 5:45 – 7:30 a.m.

Lunch Shift: 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Dinner Shift: 5:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Lawrence Street Shelter – Minimum age 13 years-old

Breakfast Shift: 5:30 – 7:30 a.m.

Lunch Shift: 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Dinner Shift: Prep 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. or Serving 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Take a tour

Another way to have your children involved with Denver Rescue Mission is to bring them for a tour at one of our locations. These are excellent opportunities to have your family see, firsthand, what it means to be homeless. At The Crossing, we have a youth center for the kids that are living there with their families.

To schedule a tour at The Crossing, please email Dani Gieger at DGieger@DenRescue.org. To schedule a tour at Lawrence Street Shelter, please email Dan Dilley at DDilley@DenRescue.org.

Guest blogger Denver Rescue Mission public relations coordinator Aneta Storvik has been working for the Mission for a year in July. She manages social media for the Mission and you can find them on Facebook. Originally from Wisconsin, she moved to Colorado with her husband last summer for jobs and they both enjoying hiking in in our beautiful mountains.