Carma gives 1,000 Thanksgiving meals to needy

Carma gives 1,000 Thanksgiving meals to needy

Jeffco Action Center has received $27,000 for 1,000 Thanksgiving meals from Solterra, the new community by Carma.

Contributed by: Ken Parks on 11/8/2006 Carma, the respected North American residential community development company, has announced that it will provide a $27,000 gift to Jeffco Action Center, so that it may provide Thanksgiving meals for 1,000 needy area families. On Nov. 20 Carma will break ground on its Solterra master-planned community near C-470 along Alameda Parkway and previously had announced that it would eventually give $200,000 to Jeffco Action Center based on future home sales at the community, which will have about 1,100 residences. "Our shelves were bare until Carma decided to step in and provide an early advance on its long-term gift," says Mag Strittmatter, executive director, Jeffco Action Center, which provides a variety of services to about 130 needy families a day, up from about 85 families just two years ago. "Food donations are down locally. As a result, we had to spend thousands of dollars just last month to keep our food bank stocked," she says. "The prospect of providing enough Thanksgiving food was dim until Carma stepped in with their generous support," she says. "Carma prides itself on its long-term commitment to the communities that it serves and is pleased to assist Jeffco Action Center in this time of need," says Tom Morton, senior vice president in charge of Colorado operations for the company. Carma will present Jeffco Action Center with a ceremonial oversized check at its official groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 20, which will be attended by a wide range of Lakewood, Jefferson County, Morrison, Alameda Gateway Community Association and civic and business leaders, and ask that others contribute to Jeffco Action Center. "Our hope is that others in the community will step up and jump in to help during this time of need," says Morton. "We were about to tap into our reserves when we got the news," says Strittmatter. "Carma's gift has allowed us to place our Thanksgiving food orders without tapping into those reserves." Each of the 1,000 Jefferson County needy families will receive a King Soopers gift certificate that can be redeemed for a frozen turkey, along with the other items needed for a holiday meal, which they will pick up from the Jeffco Action Center headquarters at 8755 W. 14th St., Lakewood. For the past several months Carma has been finalizing plans for the first phase of the Solterra community after winning unanimous planning commission and city council approval for its community master plan. "Now that we are ready to break ground, we feel confident in providing this advance to Jeffco Action Center." Carma is a 48-year-old company with offices in Denver, CO; Kansas City, MO and Austin, TX. It has developed 80 master-planned communities across North America; its first Colorado community, Tallyn's Reach was home to the 2000 Metro Denver Parade of Homes and was named Community of the Year by the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver. Carma is part of Brookfield Properties, Inc. Solterra will be the home of the 2008 Metro Denver Parade of Homes.