Fundraising Lagging For Daddy Bruce Annual Food Basket Giveaway

DENVER (CBS4) – The organizers behind one of Denver's oldest Thanksgiving traditions are in need of your help. This year, fundraising is behind for the Daddy Bruce Annual Food Basket Giveaway. The five-decade old event provides food to thousands of families in need every year, and this year, one of the main organizers has not been able to get the word out like before. He's been diagnosed with cancer.

"All the things that I did, we just ask other people to step up," said Reverend Ronald Wooding, who has helped with the event for 16 years.

According to Wooding, Daddy Bruce Randolph's grand vision was to feed more than five thousand families every year for Thanksgiving. Since his passing in 1994, the Epworth Foundation and other community organizations have continued to made it happen.

Because of his recent diagnosis of multiple myeloma, Wooding will spend the next few weeks in treatment rather than fundraising and promoting the event.

"It's a community project," said Wooding. "So, with me being out of the scene for a while it means someone else has to step up and say, hey, let's keep this going."

On Nov. 23, the foundation hopes to give out 5,500 baskets of food, which feed about eight people. Each costs about $30 to put together, so they'll need to raise more than $165,000.

"The larger donations are great, but we take all the small donations along with it," Wooding said.

With the community's help, Daddy Bruce's tradition of giving can continue another year.

"For me it's part of this community," Wooding said. "It's part of the fabric, and when you talk about Five Points and everything going on and the growth, you can't leave the history behind. I think this is one piece everyone can get involved in."

If you want to make a donation, you can do so on the foundation's website epworthfoundation.org. You can also reach the foundation by phone at (303) 296-6287.