Hunger Matters

Volume 7 | March, 2023

Hunger Matters provides updates about our community efforts

to alleviate hunger in western Colorado

Changes to Food Assistance Program to have

Tremendous Impact on Colorado Households

At the end of February, over 500,000 low-income Coloradans experienced large cuts to their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, putting a strain on households and food pantries. SNAP has long provided extra funding for groceries to support households. Typically, SNAP benefits are very modest and truly “supplemental”, with Coloradans receiving about $1.40 per meal for each person in the household.

SNAP benefits were temporarily increased during the pandemic to assist struggling families. Benefits were issued at the maximum monthly amount, rather than calculated by income level. This boost has been a huge relief to families during this time of inflation and increased food costs.

At the same time benefits were temporarily increased, Mesa County DHS and hunger relief organizations have been working hard to increase SNAP enrollment: SNAP provides relief to household budgets and provides revenue to grocery stores and the economy. About 1,000 new households have enrolled in SNAP since the pandemic began, a testament of the outreach the Mesa County Hunger Alliance has been doing, but these 1,000 households will feel the change most dramatically, as they have always received the maximum SNAP allotments.

Individuals are expected to see a reduction in benefits of about $90 per month, or an average of $360 per month for a family of four.

This emergency allotment was always supposed to be temporary, but families have come to depend on the additional dollars. The change cannot be appealed, as it was enacted by Congress through the 2022 Omnibus.

Mutual Aid highlights Community Resources available at the Distro,

including support with SNAP enrollment

Food Pantries Feeling the Pinch

At the same time the emergency allotments are sunsetting, Mesa County’s lead pantries, Community Food Bank and Clifton Christian Church Food Bank, are seeing historically high numbers of clients, along with historically high food prices. This is a common trend, with Mutual Aid Partners running out of food at a recent Tuesday Distro event; it was the first week they ran out of food, with demand being higher than ever. Pantries expect to see more households in the coming months.

Please consider supporting your local food pantry by donating or reaching out to them to see if they need volunteers. For a list of food pantries in Mesa County, please see 2-1-1’s Food Services and Programs Flyer. If you’d like to support Western Slope Food Bank of the Rockies, please note that donations are for “food for partner agencies in [insert County of choice]”.

Fresh produce is one of the top requested items from pantries

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports grocery prices are 12% higher than they were a year ago, reflecting the largest 12-month increase in 43 years.

What is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program?

SNAP serves low-income children, families, people with disabilities, individuals, seniors, and those living at or below 130% of Federal Poverty Level.

SNAP benefits allow families to purchase items including:

Breads, cereals, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, dairy products, seeds, plants which produce food for the household to eat, and dessert items.

SNAP benefits cannot be used for:

Alcohol or tobacco products, pet food, household supplies including soap and paper products, medicine, and hot foods such as rotisserie chicken

Cold storage at Community Food Bank

Hunger is a problem here in western Colorado…

where one in two children qualify for free or reduced price school lunch and one in

eight residents do not know where their next meal may be coming from. Our regional

Community Foundation has been working on expanding hunger relief efforts, including the development of summer mobile meal programs - the Lunch Lizard (Mesa County) and the

Meal Monkey (Garfield County) - and providing funding and technical

assistance to address unmet needs and expand programs.

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