Thousands of Colorado families will once again have Thanksgiving dinner thanks to the Daddy Bruce Thanksgiving Food Distribution run by the Epworth Foundation, and this year, the first 50 baskets will be given out in honor of the late Denver Post reporter Colleen O’Connor.
O’Connor, 60, frequently covered issues and events in the inner city, including several involving Daddy Bruce and the Thanksgiving giveaway. She was killed after being hit by a car Aug. 31 in a Denver intersection.
One of her stories was about a sculpture of Daddy Bruce that was salvaged after it fell off a truck that was heading to a scrap yard. A truck driver who found the sculpture gave it to Pastor Ronald Wooding at the Epworth United Methodist Church, and Wooding gave to Daddy Bruce’s son, Bruce Randolph, Jr.
“She definitely helped keep Daddy Bruce’s legacy,” said Wooding, who has helped organize the Thanksgiving distribution for more than 10 years.
The 50 baskets will include a photo of O’Connor.
The Epworth Foundation took over the giveaway a little over a decade ago and has supplied baskets for Thanksgiving dinner to tens of thousands of families so far. The giveaway was started by philanthropist and Denver icon “Daddy” Bruce Randolph in the 1960s when he would provide food for families at City Park on Thanksgiving Day. Randolph died in 1994 at age 94.
Last year, the foundation distributed more than 5,000 baskets, which fed an estimated 40,000 people across the Front Range.
This is the only third time the foundation has honored someone posthumously during the giveaway. Baskets were given in honor of former Denver City Councilwoman Carla Madison after her death in 2011 and in memory of Robert “Tree Bob” Williams, a longtime supporter of the foundation, in 2014.
The Epworth Foundation is still raising money for this year’s giveaway and is hosting a fundraiser from 6-9 p.m. Oct. 21 at Bogey’s at City Park Golf Course, 2500 York St. Drop-off donations will be accepted during the event.
Donations can also be made at epworthfoundation.org or by calling the foundation at 303-296-6287. Checks can be mailed to The Epworth Foundation, 1865 Bruce Randolph Ave., Denver, CO 80205.
