Rising need: Weld Food Bank, other northern Colorado resources see surge in demand
A line of cars snakes around the building as the Weld Food Bank reports a stark increase in the number of people it serves. Photo courtesy of Weston Edmunds, communications manager at the Weld Food Bank.
By Kelly Ragan
Business is booming – and that’s not a good thing for the Weld Food Bank.
Weston Edmunds, communication manager at the Weld Food Bank, said they’ve seen a stark increase in the number of people they’re serving, especially with their emergency food program.
“The need has never been worse,” Edmunds said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Emergency Food Program was used, on average, about 5,300 times a month. It is designed to help individuals and families who have a temporary and usually unexpected food need. During the height of the pandemic, the Emergency Food Program was used 8,700 times in one month. Now the Emergency Food Program is averaging 20,000 uses per month.
The food bank considers the Emergency Food Program a canary in the coal mine, of sorts, of how people are fairing.
“It seems like there are a lot more folks who are finding themselves in moments of need,” Edmunds said. “There seems to be a strong connection between inflation and when we really started seeing the numbers kick up.”
This isn’t necessarily unique to northern Colorado or the rest of the state. According to a report by Reuters, large food banks such as the Atlanta Community Food Bank – one of the nation’s largest – saw demand for food assistance as high as it was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2023.
“Food banks have been around for 50 years, but this is the first time we are seeing unprecedented high food demand combined with historically low unemployment rates,” Vince Hall, chief government relations officer for Feeding America, told Reuters. Feeding America supports 60,000 food pantries.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Emergency Food Program at the Weld Food Bank was used, on average, about 5,300 times a month. It is designed to help individuals and families who have a temporary and usually unexpected food need. During the height of the pandemic, the Emergency Food Program was used 8,700 times in one month. Now the Emergency Food Program is averaging 20,000 uses per month. Photo courtesy of Weston Edmunds.
Inflation is hitting the food bank too. The bank has spent nearly 4.5 times as much money for only 2.5 times the amount of food compared to pre-pandemic times, Edmunds said.
While the Emergency Food Program might be an early indicator of economic struggle, the food bank’s other services are seeing an increase too.
“The Mobile Food Pantry is serving more people per distribution than during the height of COVID-19,” Edmunds said. “On average, there are 100 more people visiting the Mobile food Pantry per distribution.”
Seniors especially are using this service more than they were previously, Edmunds said.
Many of those seniors may have qualified for help from the Mobile Food Pantry in the past but didn’t use it, Edmunds said, but with many living on afixed income that doesn’t change even when prices are higher, they don’t have anywhere else to go.
The Weld Food Bank’s child feeding programs, such as the Kids Café and Summer Feeding programs, are also serving about 30% more children, he said.
“We’re having to purchase more product to fill those gaps,” Edmunds said. “With the increased need, we need more volunteers, too.”
Need in northern Colorado
The Food Bank for Larimer County has also seen big increases, though its services are structured a bit differently.
Heather Buoniconti, chief development officer of the Larimer food bank, said a lot of their food goes out through no-cost markets called Fresh Food Share Markets. They are essentially brick-and-mortar locations that look and feel like a grocery store. Clients can pick out what they want at no cost. One is located in Loveland, the other in Fort Collins. Visits to the Fresh Food Share Markets were up 32% over last year.
The Food Bank for Larimer County served 9% more individuals from 2022 to 2023 through the mobile pantry, though visits to the mobile pantries were up 24% -- meaning folks visited the pantries more often.
“So we are seeing increases all around,” Buoniconti said.
The Food Bank for Larimer County is part of a network of about 127 other nonprofits and their programs, Buoniconti said, and those programs have seen an increase in need as well.
“They have received about 23% more pounds of food in 2023 compared to 2022,” Buoniconti said. “Need is on the rise, no matter where you go.”
Not just food banks
The Loveland Community Kitchen has seen increases too. The kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry seven days a week, no questions asked. Folks can even drive up and get a meal to-go from the kitchen’s food trailer if they don’t feel comfortable going inside the kitchen.
The kitchen mostly serves people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity, said Ashlin Lorenzo, the organization’s volunteer and service coordinator. Lorenzo said 2022 had been a record-breaking year. It was the first time in the kitchen’s history they served more than 100,000 meals.
In 2023, the kitchen served 139,817 meals.
“That’s a 36% increase from the previous year,” said Sandra Wright, former executive director of the kitchen. Wright’s new job title is homeless systems project manager for Homeward Alliance, but she still serves on the kitchen’s board of directors as treasurer.
The kitchen is anticipating another 9% increase in services for 2024, she said.
“More and more people aren’t making it,” she said.
While it’s a complicated issue, Wright said she suspects a big part of the equation is that salaries are not keeping up with the cost of living in northern Colorado.
“More and more people aren’t making it,”
Food insecurity can be an early sign of more economic trouble to come, she said, as it can be easier to cut food costs than to cut housing costs.
Inflation is hitting the kitchen too, she said.
“Inflation is the great equalizer,” she said. “Everyone is experiencing it. Our costs are climbing because of it.”
Vindeket, a non-profit, no-cost food rescue in Fort Collins, is also busy these days.
Vindeket “rescues” food from grocery stores, local farms and more that would otherwise be headed for the landfill often because it is past its printed best buy date.
“We are just bursting at the seams,” said Nathan Shaw, executive director of Vindeket.
Shaw said he wasn’t sure if that was because people are more interested in addressing food waste or cutting their grocery bill, or if more people have just heard about Vindeket at this point, but more people are using their services.
As it stands, Shaw said they’re focusing on doing a capital campaign to raise money.
“We need a bigger building,” he said. “Right now, we have a constant line out the door. We’d like to have more space, potentially rescue more food, and serve more people.”
Loss of benefits
Temporary pandemic-related boosts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ended in March, which meant benefits returned to regular levels, according to the state. The move impacted 290,000 households and 554,000 individuals across the state.
The emergency allotments allowed SNAP households to get an additional $95 in benefits or an additional benefit valued up to the maximum benefit for their household size, whichever was greater, according to the USDA.
“We definitely saw a huge increase when SNAP benefits were cut,” said Lorenzo with the Loveland Community Kitchen.
Buoniconti, with the Larimer food bank, echoed this.
“We can go back and see this is when we really started to see some things tick up,” Buoniconti said.
Inflation
Inflation is a major piece of the puzzle, especially when it comes to the grocery store.
According to a report by the Colorado Sun, grocery prices rose 3.5% nationally in 2021, then by another 11% in 2022. By the end of 2023, prices were predicted to rise another 5%.
The Sun spotlighted a couple commonly purchased items in its series titled The High Cost of Colorado.
In 2018, a small grocery list may have looked like this:
1 gallon of milk: $2.91
1 pound of hamburger: $4.09
1 loaf of bread: $1.54
Dozen eggs: $2.39
Coffee: $4.75
Total: $15.68
That same list, in 2023, might look like this:
1 gallon of milk: $3.99
1 pound of hamburger: $5.89
1 loaf of bread: $2.22
Dozen eggs: $3.00
Coffee: $6.10
Total: $21.17
Cost of housing
The average rent for an apartment in Greeley, according to Rent Café, is about $1,448 for 801 sq. ft.
According to Zillow, the average home price in Greeley is about $408,388.
According to a report by the Colorado Sun, more than half of renters in several cities, including Greeley and Fort Collins, are spending more than half of their income on rent.
Edmunds, with the Weld Food Bank, said any time he gives a tour of the building, he tells people that hunger is never the only problem.
“Hunger is always the result of something else,” he said.
How to help
Hunger knows no holidays. While many nonprofits see a boost in donations and volunteer interest around the holidays, need doesn’t end there. To help the organizations feeding hungry folks across northern Colorado, consider donating cash or food items and volunteering your time.
Weld Food Bank: https://weldfoodbank.org/
Food Bank for Larimer County: https://foodbanklarimer.org/
Loveland Community Kitchen: https://www.lovelandcommunitykitchen.org/
Vindeket: https://www.vindeketfoods.org/
This is part of a series exploring the economic situation in northern Colorado. Many are feeling squeezed by the high cost of life. Feel free to reach out with your story.