{"id":24632,"date":"2024-11-29T11:40:37","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T18:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/inflation-is-hitting-everyone-hard-especially-colorados-food-banks\/"},"modified":"2024-11-29T18:40:37","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T18:40:37","slug":"inflation-is-hitting-everyone-hard-especially-colorados-food-banks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/inflation-is-hitting-everyone-hard-especially-colorados-food-banks\/","title":{"rendered":"Inflation is hitting everyone hard, especially Colorado\u2019s food banks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Volunteers
Volunteers sort through donations to make Thanksgiving boxes for families in Weld County on Nov. 22. (Haylee May\/CPR News)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

In an industrial-sized kitchen tucked away at Denver\u2019s Food Bank of the Rockies, sous chef Adrienne Flowers is helping a group of smiling volunteers in hair nets. Together, they\u2019re preparing cubed mango for a taco meal that will feed hundreds of hungry kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe change the world for 2,600 children here in this kitchen,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re feeding our community. We\u2019re feeding our future, and it just feels so good to be a part of that solution every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal pandemic-era food aid ended across the nation last year, and with an increase in inflation, families are relying heavily on food banks this holiday season.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore people are needing our help now than even at the height of COVID,\u201d said Weston Edmunds, Communications Manager for Weld Food Bank.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the food bank\u2019s emergency food program was serving about 300 people a day. It was often hard to keep up with the need at that point, but it was nowhere near the demand the food bank is experiencing now.<\/p>\n

\"Food
Food Bank of the Rockies CEO Erin Pulling says inflation is costing them thousands more annually as grocery costs continue to rise. (Haylee May\/CPR News)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cLast month, we were averaging 1,300 people a day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a 333% increase, and it\u2019s costing food banks a lot of money to keep up.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake potatoes, for instance,\u201d said Erin Pulling, Food Bank of the Rockies\u2019 CEO. \u201cOver the course of a year we buy 40 semi-truckloads full of potatoes, and (they\u2019re) costing us about $30,000 more than they were a couple years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

The price increases have been driven by lingering supply chain issues, tree and poultry disease, the war in Ukraine and an increase in the cost of labor.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the pandemic, we were purchasing about 450,000 to 500,000 pounds of food, and we were spending about $600,000 (a year),\u201d Edmunds said. \u201cLast year, we spent over $2 million on food, but we only brought in about 1\u00bd million pounds. So we were spending four times as much money on only twice as much food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmunds said most people Weld Food Bank serves don\u2019t need services because they\u2019re losing work or getting hit with unexpected bills. Many are simply struggling to stretch their finances any further than they already are.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a veteran once told our CEO, there\u2019s just too much month for their money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A study from the Colorado Health Institute last summer showed that 8.1% of Coloradans reported not eating as much as they thought they should because they could not afford food. Two in 10 Coloradans said they were concerned about affording nutritious meals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is more need because we no longer have increases like in SNAP or food stamp benefits, for instance,\u201d said Pulling. \u201cSo we\u2019re more dependent on the generosity of our community than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financial donations are one of the most tangible ways to give, according to service groups. Weld Food Bank, for example, can turn a dollar donated into three meals.<\/p>\n

\"Communications
Communications Manager Weston Edmunds at Weld Food Bank is helping the organization raise awareness for an increase in the need for rural Coloradans. (Haylee May\/CPR News)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cOr if you want to think of it this way, we can feed someone for a dollar a day. That\u2019s a big impact that someone can make,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what the holidays are about, you can come to the literal table so people can have Thanksgiving meals with their family\u2013 or the metaphorical table where we can come together and say, what are the needs of our community and how can we help them regardless of our race, our religion, our gender \u2013 our anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another way to give is through volunteering for one of the many programs offered by local food banks working to feed seniors, children and others in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, our volunteer base gave over 67,000 hours, which equates to 32 full-time staff members, and we have 31 people on staff, so over half our workforce is volunteers. But that food donation is important as well,\u201d Edmunds said.<\/p>\n

In the state\u2019s rural areas, physical food banks and their mobile extensions may be the only way for some people to access healthy meals for their families. This can pose a challenge when covering 4,000 square miles like Weld County Food Bank does, but Edmunds says that\u2019s where community partners come in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose smaller communities don\u2019t have the resources for kids to hop on the city bus and maybe go to their local school and get a meal, so we work with libraries and some of our agency partners to provide safe places for kids to go to and still get the delicious meals we\u2019re making here on site,\u201d Edmunds said.<\/p>\n

As people celebrate the season of giving, many food banks do see an increase in volunteers and donations. Maintaining that momentum year-round is crucial and daunting at times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose happy Hallmark feelings of the holidays go away once the presents are open and the trees are taken down, but the need is still there,\u201d Edmunds said.<\/p>\n

According to the Colorado Health Access Survey, 11.2% of Coloradans were food insecure in 2023, which is a more than 3 percentage point increase from 2021. Yet, Pulling says no matter how many people need their help, food banks will continue to ensure they have enough for everyone, even if it costs them more to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a united belief that no one should have to choose between putting food on the table and paying another household bill,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Colorado Public Radio: To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018More people are needing our help now than even at the height of COVID\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24632"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}