DENVER — On a day focused on gratitude, Nicole Psilas is finding joy in the little things.
“It puts the stress aside. I don't feel stressed when I get to see my family, and I'm able to go and eat dinner and spend time with my family without having to worry about these other things,” she said.
We first met Psilas at the beginning of the month as she waited for her SNAP benefits to reload. She was one of more than 600,000 Coloradans who had yet to receive their benefits due to the government shutdown.
“I'm like, maybe today, who knows?” she said.
Even after the shutdown ended, recovery wasn't immediate for families like hers.
“There was a lot of making up for it, and that's just how it is,” she said.
Denver7 has been covering the challenges Coloradans faced during the shutdown and we have gathered a list of resources through the following reporting:
- Denver pasta chef sparks community push to make more meals as SNAP benefits lapse
- Coloradans using Facebook groups to help neighbors ahead of SNAP benefit freeze
- Denver mom turns backyard into emergency food pantry on Halloween amid SNAP benefit uncertainty
- Finding solutions together: How Denver’s food halls are filling the gap during the shutdown
- Denver7 Gives donations help families impacted by government shutdown
- Northern Colorado butcher, baker give food to neighbors struggling amid SNAP freeze
- Worried about your finances during the federal government shutdown? Denver7 shares advice from experts
- Demand surges at diaper distributions as SNAP recipients face benefit reductions
- 'Really ironic': Nonprofit that trains people for food service careers feeds its students amid SNAP freeze
- 'We had to act': Arvada launches campaign to help meet increased need during federal government shutdown
- Coloradans react to federal judge's ruling to fully fund SNAP benefits by Friday
She credits the help she received from food pantries and community groups for helping her family survive the benefit freeze, but worries about others who may not have received similar support.
“I know there's a lot of people that probably didn't, and I can't imagine what they went through or are still going through, to try to play that catch-up game,” she said, “and will you ever be caught up, because now we're sitting at a time where people didn't have things that they need, like food and such. Do you ever come back from it?”
Food banks across Colorado report unprecedented demand this holiday season as families continue to recover from the shutdown's impact.
“While we're seeing this heightened need, more need than we've seen in more than 10 years, we actually have fewer resources with which to meet the need,” said Food Bank of the Rockies CEO Erin Pulling.
Pulling said the organization has seen upwards of a 60% increase in families seeking assistance in recent weeks.
Their annual Operation Freebird event, a collaborative effort to hand out food boxes, turkey vouchers and other community resources to those in need, saw more than 2,000 families last Saturday – the largest distribution in the event’s 22-year history.
“Even now that SNAP has been reinstated, families are really struggling with just wages not keeping pace with cost of living and also given the reductions in SNAP at the federal level, that more families than ever are needing to come here to get support from the Food Bank of the Rockies and the sheriff's office in order to put Thanksgiving dinner on the table,” said Pulling.
It's been an undeniably tough month for so many Coloradans — but even amid the continued uncertainty, families like Psilas' are focusing on gratitude for this moment in time.
“Just to be able to be around [family], and just to at least to not have to worry and just celebrate being together,” said Psilas.
