{"id":24725,"date":"2024-11-23T07:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T14:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/food-pantries-in-cortez-are-serving-more-people-with-fewer-donations\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:59:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:59:35","slug":"food-pantries-in-cortez-are-serving-more-people-with-fewer-donations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/food-pantries-in-cortez-are-serving-more-people-with-fewer-donations\/","title":{"rendered":"Food pantries in Cortez are serving more people with fewer donations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Marsha
Marsha Siglin, a volunteer at Hope\u2019s and Grace\u2019s Kitchen in Cortez for the past 15 years, puts hard-boiled eggs in to-go lunches at Hope\u2019s Kitchen. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

At 11 a.m. on a cold, rainy Friday in October, volunteers at the First United Methodist Church in Cortez worked diligently to prepare its final free lunch for the week.<\/p>\n

Hope\u2019s Kitchen<\/a> has been around for 24 years now, and they serve anywhere from 100 to 150 lunches every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.<\/p>\n

Chicken noodle soup was on the menu that day, and Pat Downey, the director of the kitchen and head chef, had four large pots of it cooking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been serving more and more people lately,\u201d Downey said as he stirred. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing to serve 150 people a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pat
Pat Downey, the director of Hope\u2019s Kitchen, puts chicken noodle soup in takeaway containers. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He attributed the demand, in part, to more expensive groceries.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true: From 2019 to 2023, food prices in America rose 25%, in large part because of supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, according to the USDA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the church, near the door where they pass out to-go lunches, Marsha Siglin, a volunteer at both Grace\u2019s and Hope\u2019s Kitchen in Cortez for the past 15 years, was packing paper bags with food.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to make it as nutritious as possible, and we do hot meals when we can,\u201d Siglin said as she divvied up hard-boiled eggs, one per lunch.<\/p>\n

That day, people got a \u201cbeautiful salad,\u201d soup, bagged chicken and a doughnut, if they wanted it.<\/p>\n

On days they don\u2019t get treats donated from City Market, Walmart or Safeway \u2013 donations that are getting less and less frequent \u2013 Siglin said she\u2019ll bake a cake or cookies.<\/p>\n

Every other Thursday in years past, Walmart would donate two trucks full of food. Mostly it was a range of canned goods, from fruit to drinks to meat; now, they\u2019re down to one truck.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t get as much as we used to,\u201d Siglin said.<\/p>\n

But they\u2019re serving roughly 30% more people than before.<\/p>\n

Across town, Grace\u2019s Kitchen<\/a> faces the same problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood insecurity keeps rising, and now it\u2019s more challenged because we\u2019re not receiving the donations we used to,\u201d said the Rev. Douglas Rector at Grace\u2019s Kitchen, which has served more than 230,000 meals since it opened in 1998.<\/p>\n

Rector said the kitchen largely depends on donations to serve 100 to 150 free lunches on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of generous people in our congregation and in the wider community too, and we are grateful for that,\u201d Rector said.<\/p>\n

But demand is rising, and so are costs to pay for meals.<\/p>\n

By the end of 2023, Grace\u2019s Kitchen had served 13,567 lunches. To make that happen, it spent $16,369.52 on food, with another $2,721.90 in takeout boxes.<\/p>\n

At the end of August, it had already served 9,442 lunches, spent $22,781.57 on food and $4,113.22 in takeout materials; and there\u2019s still four more months to account for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing is, we\u2019re not getting monetary or food donations that we used to get, and we are feeding more people than we used to,\u201d Siglin said.<\/p>\n

Eventually the sun came out, and the rainy Friday was rainy no more.<\/p>\n

By noon, people of all ages were lined up outside Hope\u2019s Kitchen at 515 N. Park St. in Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe earlier people get here, the better the store donations to choose from,\u201d Downey said.<\/p>\n

Two long, rectangular tables were full of things like chocolate milk, all kinds of bread \u2013 thanks to a grant from the LOR Foundation \u2013 dips and fruits. There were some things people could take to cook at home, and there were nonperishables for people who don\u2019t have a home to cook in.<\/p>\n

\"Volunteers
Volunteers at Hope\u2019s Kitchen serves community members lunch on a Friday in late October at noon. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt feeds us, it keeps us healthy and a smile on our faces. It keeps families together, and there\u2019s a sense of togetherness here, like we\u2019re a family,\u201d said Peterson Begay after he secured a lunch at Hope\u2019s Kitchen.<\/p>\n

As Siglin served people, she called them by their names and asked how they were doing, and whether they wanted a doughnut.<\/p>\n

She said for those she doesn\u2019t know, she encourages them to visit Grace\u2019s Kitchen, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all feeding the same people, and a lot of them we\u2019ve known for years and years,\u201d said Siglin. \u201cWe have alternate days we feed the people, so we make sure to tell newcomers to come to both kitchens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day The Journal<\/em> visited Grace\u2019s Kitchen, they had made pasta and had store donations set up on tables for people to choose from, just as Hope\u2019s had.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this place, it means more to me than anything,\u201d said Cindy Stuckman, a volunteer at Grace\u2019s for the past 27 years, as she folded plastic cutlery into napkins.<\/p>\n

\"Cindy
Cindy Stuckman, a volunteer at Grace\u2019s Kitchen for the past 27 years, folds plastic cutlery into napkins. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Stuckman equated the work as a gift to God, and others were there in service to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me it\u2019s amazing, coming from a place like California, and Flagstaff too,\u201d said Terri Werckman, a volunteer at Grace\u2019s Kitchen. \u201cThere\u2019s not as much help there for people needing it; there\u2019s a lot of help here in this small town.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s no limit to what people can get; no \u201cone lunch per person\u201d sort of thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a judgment call, and it\u2019s not for us to say,\u201d said Downey. \u201cThey could be getting food for people at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Terri
Terri Werckman (left) and Patti Bennett, two volunteers at Hope\u2019s Kitchen in Cortez. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Downey said they got a whole cart full of bread that day, so they sent some over to the Good Samaritan Center<\/a>, a food pantry on Beech Street in Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more of a team effort now than it ever used to be. COVID really brought all that together,\u201d Downey said.<\/p>\n

Good Sam\u2019s is set up like a market, where people can come in every two weeks and shop for groceries.<\/p>\n

Like Grace\u2019s and Hope\u2019s Kitchen, it prides itself on nutritious options and sources food locally as much as they can, said Kirbi Foster, the executive director of Good Sam\u2019s.<\/p>\n

There are no requirements for people to come, Foster said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a hard time getting people to come here; there\u2019s shame around it,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also \u201chard to answer why there\u2019s more people out here now than two years ago,\u201d she said of the long line of people waiting to shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur numbers are triple now than at the height of the pandemic,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n

During COVID, there was a lot of funding available to meet needs, since \u201cit was on everyone\u2019s mind.\u201d Now, that funding has dried up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s become invisible, it dropped off,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n

\"An
An empty storage room at the Good Samaritan Center, a food pantry in Cortez. It once was filled wall to wall with food and supplies. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A huge storage room at the pantry that used to be filled wall to wall with food, diapers and water is empty now.<\/p>\n

Good Sam\u2019s, like the local kitchens, is seeing less funding and less donations, while serving more people.<\/p>\n

Good Sam\u2019s, Grace\u2019s Kitchen and Hope\u2019s Kitchen all get food donations from something called Care and Share Food Bank<\/a>, which serves 29 counties throughout Southern Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing more and more neighbors needing help,\u201d said Adam Uhernik, a media relations specialist at Care and Share.<\/p>\n

Uhernik attributed the hike in demand to inflation and rising costs in all sectors of life, not just food and groceries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen other costs are rising, people shrink their food budget to pay other bills,\u201d Uhernik said.<\/p>\n

Heading into the holiday season, these problems become more pronounced as people try and afford gifts, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s not all doom and gloom,\u201d said Foster. \u201cThere\u2019s certainly beauty in these sorts of issues if you can find solidarity with people and love and care for one another. That beauty doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster noted how \u201cPeople here give a lot, and care a lot about each other. We get to see a lot of good stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

And whatever comes next, we\u2019ll do it together, she said.<\/p>\n

\"Jess
Jess Steele, a volunteer at Grace\u2019s and Hope\u2019s Kitchen for the past 17 years, washes dishes at Hope\u2019s Kitchen. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

If you\u2019re interested in getting involved, both kitchens and the food pantry is looking for volunteers.<\/p>\n

To serve at Hope\u2019s Kitchen, contact the director, Pat Downey, at (970) 529-3949. Call (970) 565-7865 or email office@stbarnabascortez.org<\/a> to get involved at Grace\u2019s Kitchen. Send Kirbi an email at director@goodsamscortez.org<\/a> or call (970) 565-6424 to volunteer at Good Sam\u2019s.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also always excepting donations, whether it be cash or food.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an element of Cortez that knows all of this is going on and is glad to help,\u201d said Downey. \u201cThere\u2019s another side that wants to say that we don\u2019t have a homeless problem and a drug problem here, and therefore we don\u2019t need to pay attention to this. But it is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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