Nice Rice started with a cooler, a sidewalk, and a stack of foil-wrapped rice rolls. We cooked at home, drove into Denver, and handed food to people who needed it. We called each one a drop. We still do.
This year the work changed shape. We now cook in a commissary kitchen in Lafayette, Colorado, freeze the rolls, and deliver them in bulk to Community Food Share in Louisville, the Feeding America food bank serving Boulder and Broomfield Counties. Here is why, and what it means if you support us.
What a street drop could do
A street drop is personal. You see the person who gets the food. It is also small by nature. A home kitchen and a couple of coolers cap how many rolls one crew can make, keep warm, and hand out in an afternoon. Our drop records show that ceiling: Drop 36 was 96 rolls, Drop 37 was 99, Drop 38 was 94.
Those were good days. They were also about as big as that model gets.
What a kitchen changes
A commissary kitchen is built for volume. We can cook in batches, wrap, and freeze, which separates the cooking day from the delivery day. That is the whole unlock. Food can be made ahead and moved when a partner is ready for it.
The partner is Community Food Share. A food bank already has the cold storage, the distribution programs, and the local partners to get food to people across two counties. We make rolls. They move food at a scale we never could from a curb. Each of us does the part we are built for.
What stays the same
The roll. Rice, eggs, butter, spices, foil. Simple on purpose, because simple is what makes it cheap enough to give away.
The record. Every delivery still goes into the Drops archive, with photos and counts where we have them.
The money. Donations and store purchases still pay for ingredients, kitchen time, and getting the food to Louisville. There is no other funding behind this.
What comes next
More rolls per drop. More drops. We will publish the counts as they happen rather than promise numbers ahead of time.
If you gave to Nice Rice when it was a cooler on a sidewalk, thank you. That is what got us a kitchen. If you want to help fuel the next drop, you can do that here.