More than 600,000 Coloradans are supported by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Of those recipients, roughly half are children, 10% are elderly and 15% live with disabilities.
On Monday, President Donald Trump announced his administration will partially fund SNAP after payments were frozen on Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown. Still, SNAP recipients will likely see the delayed payments.
Meanwhile, Coloradans are doing what they can to ensure every member of their community has food on the table.
Eileen Snyder runs Hearth & Harvest Bakery out of her Wellington home. Snyder, who has always loved baking, has her cottage license under the Colorado Cottage Foods Act and sells her special sourdough bread, among other goods.
"I was going to take the bread and donate it to various food banks or people that were helping, but because I operate under a cottage license, they can't accept the bread," Snyder explained. "So, I reached out to the local community, and I said, if anyone in town is in need of a loaf of bread, no questions asked, just reach out to me, and I will make one.”
Message after message began pouring into Snyder's inbox, with other members of the community asking how they could help.
“What ended up happening was farmers were bringing five-gallon buckets of farm-fresh eggs, and so we got that. And then a lot of people dropped off canned goods. And then we had some people sending donations to my business account, and we took every single penny and went to various stores," Snyder said. "We just hit all the sales and tried to stock up on as many budget-friendly meals as we could... I could not have done this without the whole community. Like, there's no way I could have done this alone. And then my husband and kids helped tremendously.”
The donations piled up over the course of a week, and Snyder was able to pack 34 bags of food for local families, which were distributed over the weekend.
"We tried to make sure that everything that they got could be turned into meals," Snyder said. "That was the goal — that it was realistic, well-balanced, and would be helpful.”
Snyder said the families who received the bags had signed up for them.
"Some people were like, 'Do you need to see my SNAP card?' And I was like, nope, I'll let God and karma sort that out if you're taking advantage," Snyder said with a smile. “They just would send me their name, their family size, and then we would try to make sure they had enough for their whole family."
Denver7 | Gives
While SNAP benefits are on hold, help isn't: Denver7 Gives steps up for families
Snyder plans to pack those bags again for the coming weekend.
"I'm going to do it at this level until SNAP benefits are returned," said Snyder. "Once SNAP benefits are returned, I think I'm going to scale it back to trying to keep this going for five families a week on a regular basis."
Just south of Snyder in Wellington is Friendly Nick's Butcher in Fort Collins. The owner, Nick Chase, has lived in the area for more than a dozen years.
On Monday, the storefront was closed, but employees were bustling around inside, packing up bags of meat for the coming days. The bags are given out to anyone who has not received their SNAP benefits or any federal workers who have not been paid.
“We're not really asking for much. Just show us that you have an EBT card or that you have a federal ID, and we're just handing the meat," Chase explained. "I'm not trying to be stingy about anything. There are no stipulations. I don't want to stigmatize anybody. I just want them to have food on their table. We're just trying to help. That's all there is to it.”
To help support their cause, Chase started a GoFundMe. As of Monday evening, the online fundraiser for Friendly Nick's Butcher had raised more than $75,000.
“It's an overwhelming amount to think about," Chase said. "As long as there's money to do so, I guess, and even when that runs out, I might still just try and find a way to either donate more myself or keep doing maybe a small portion of our freezer for something like this... Even after the government opens or after the SNAP benefits are funded, we're going to keep doing this because people are getting behind on their bills, and who knows what they're sacrificing. I want them to have an opportunity to catch up and get their lives back to normal.”
For Chase, the response from the community has been indescribable.
“Our community is here just to help out whenever we can," Chase said.
Coloradans in need of food assistance can check out the following resources:
The governor’s office suggested Coloradans call 211 or (866) 760-5489 or visit the 211 Colorado website. There is also a list of resources through the Feeding Colorado website, or by email: info@feedingcolorado.org.
Those looking for the most up-to-date information should click here.
- Denver7 Gives has created a campaign to help Coloradans struggling with food insecurity. Click on the form below and select “Help Fight Food Insecurity“ to donate.