| Story Credit: Jace DiCola and Kalen McCain, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, 11/5/2025
With federal food aid lapsing amid a long-running government shutdown, local food banks are stepping in to fill the gap for Grand Valley residents that count on those services. It’s no small task. “In the last two weeks, we’ve seen over 120 new households receiving food, and usually we only see about 100 new households in a month’s time,” said Clifton Christian Church Food Bank Executive Director Jackie Feaster. “We ended up purchasing $20,000 more food this month, to be prepared for the increase due to the SNAP benefits.” The Grand Junction Community Food Bank reported that its new client registrations have doubled since SNAP concerns began circulating in late October, to nearly 80 households in the final week of October. The Kids Aid Backpack Program, which delivers food twice a week to more than 100 schools for distribution to students in need, reported an uptick of 300 new recipients in the past two weeks, with more expected moving forward. Food Bank of the Rockies, a regional nonprofit that supplies numerous other distributors, said it had around 50% more clicks than normal on the “find food” button on its website. Mutual Aid Partners told The Daily Sentinel that it spent $2,500 on its food pantry last week (rather than the typical $1,000), but the organization still ran out of food before a distribution event’s end. While the many hunger relief organizations emphasized that they won’t run out of food, they said much of that is owed to the community’s support. “The increase in need from these policy directions is definitely going to affect us as far as demand and how it hurts our neighbors in need,” Grand Junction Community Food Bank Executive Director Alisha Wenger said. “But we’re a very resilient, independent response that’s powered by small-level donations from thousands of people across our community.” Those interested can support the local fight against hunger, primarily by volunteering their time or donating to the cause. WHERE TO FIND FOOD Food Bank of the Rockies’ “Pantry Locator” lists hunger relief partners, the services they provide and their hours: https://www.foodbankrockies.org/find-food/ 211 Colorado is another resource: https://www.211colorado.org/food-assistance/ To learn more, view the Daily Sentinel from 11/5/2025 |
