Editor's note: This story was originally published by Colorado News Connection and was supplemented with previous local reporting.
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DENVER — Almost 40% of Coloradans are struggling to put food on the table because of the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the highest rate of food insecurity ever reported in the state, according to a new Hunger Free Colorado survey.
Ellie Agar, director of communications for the group, said the rate is twice as high as during the peak of the Great Recession, with more than half of all families with children unsure from where their next meal will come.
Locally, as of November, the OUR Center, a nonprofit organization providing critical services to families in Longmont, has been distributing around 95,000 pounds of food to local families per month, Executive Director Marc Cowell told the Leader in December.
“We are up 20,000 points of food from last year,” he said. “Last month we saw about 1,600 households come through, which equates to about 5,100 individuals benefiting from the pantry and the assistance we provide through our food insecurity services.”
Community Food Share, a food bank serving Boulder and Broomfield counties, also has seen an increase in need throughout the communities that it serves, Julia McGee, director of communications, said in December.
“More than 40,000 people in Boulder and Broomfield counties relied on our network even before COVID-19 hit. This number has grown over the last nine months,” she said. “Families receive more than 100 pounds of food when they visit our onsite drive-through food pantry.”
Agar said COVID-19 also has dramatically increased long-standing disparities in access to healthy food.
"Individuals of color are disproportionately being impacted," Agar said. "About 50% reported they are struggling to put food on the table, and one of the big reasons is that they have seen a higher loss of income during the pandemic."
Fifty-one percent of Coloradans of color have lost income since the beginning of the pandemic, compared with 35% of white Coloradans.
Agar emphasized additional federal assistance will be needed to meet the scale of the crisis. But some members of Congress have opposed passing additional relief packages, citing concerns about rising national debt and uncertainty the money will go to those most in need.
Agar contended state lawmakers also should invest in boosting outreach efforts to ensure more families can access SNAP, the program formerly known as food stamps.
She pointed out that each dollar in SNAP benefits generates $1.50 in economic activity. Last year, the program added $1.5 billion dollars to Colorado's economy.
"So we know that by investing in those things, we're not only reducing health-care costs, helping our workers, our children, our families, but we're putting money directly back into our local economies; helping our local grocery stores and our local food systems," Agar outlined.
The poll found hunger is now a top concern for almost one in four Colorado households.
Agar said if families are not able to consistently put healthy food on the table, studies have shown that the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of children across the state will suffer for years to come.
Help is available online at www.COfoodfinder.org.
