Supplying food to Utah families who need it.
That was the one thing on the mind of more than 3,000 people at the Salt Palace who volunteered with Slopes Serves Meals at the annual Silicon Slopes Summit.
By the time the final box slid onto the last of 450 pallets, three days’ collective work yielded nearly 900,000 meals for Utah families in need.
Together they packed 25,214 boxes, each filled with three meals a day for three days for a family of four, enough food to fill 19 semitrailers bound for food pantries (and eventually kitchen pantries) across the state.
Their goal? Offer relief to families in a state where 1 in 6 children face food insecurity and hundreds of thousands of Utahns do not always know where their next meal will come from.
This year’s effort marked the sixth year of collaboration among Silicon Slopes, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and BrainStorm, the corporate sponsor of Slopes Serves.
Since the partnership began, nearly 40,000 volunteers have helped deliver more than 6 million meals statewide, a growing tradition that has become a signature service moment of the annual Silicon Slopes Summit. The Church donated all of this year’s food—higher in both quantity and quality than in past years—while BrainStorm coordinated the logistics and Silicon Slopes provided the venue and platform to rally Utah’s tech and civic community.
Much of the recruiting happened quietly, through channels like JustServe, Utah Area Communication Councils, and Latter-day Saint service missions that spread the word to congregations, neighborhoods, and interfaith partners. That quiet outreach produced one of the most memorable sights of the week: people who arrived alone—potentially college students after classes, retirees with a free afternoon or evening, or parents squeezing in a shift after school pickup—drawn to the project only by the knowledge that there was a need.
Leaders such as Sister Andrea Spannaus of the Young Women General Presidency and Brother Clint Udy of the Young Men General Advisory Board joined in shoulder to shoulder with teenagers at the packing lines, underscoring that no role at this project was more important than simply showing up to serve.
In a state wrestling with the effects of rising hunger, an event like Silicon Slopes Serves Meals does not solve every problem, but it offers something essential: proof that Utahns are willing to come together and willingly serve the most vulnerable.
Glenn Bailey, executive director of Crossroads Urban Center—one of the pantry recipients—profusely thanked Silicon Slopes, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and BrainStorm and said the food is “still coming in,” and added that the deliveries are “very, very helpful right now,” noting that the pantry is receiving two pallets a week at each of their two Utah locations.
