Local nutrition services and Garfield County officials are preparing for over 4,000 county residents to lose access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in November due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. 

SNAP helps about one in 10 Coloradans, including low-income families, children, older adults and people with disabilities, afford healthy food by providing a monthly benefit of around $187 per person, or about $6 a day, through an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card. 

Although benefits roll over month to month — meaning anyone who has unused SNAP benefits from October can use them in November — about 70% of benefits are spent within the first two weeks of the month, according to Garfield County Department of Human Services Director (DHS) Sharon Longhurst-Pritt. 

As the federal government shutdown drags on, the United States Department of Agriculture has directed all states to pause the release of federally-funded SNAP benefits beginning Nov. 1. 

Local impacts

About 6.6% of Garfield County residents —  4,054 people — are set to lose this additional funding. Around 50% are children, 10% are adults over 65 years old and 10% have disabilities, said Namrata Shrestha, health access consultant for West Mountain Regional Health Alliance, during a Wednesday press interview addressing the SNAP funding freeze.

Garfield County will be left without over $700,000 needed for monthly food benefits, a gap that the Department of Human Services cannot fill. 

Longhurst-Pritt told the Garfield Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 20 that the department was looking for any internal funding it could use to offer assistance to hungry residents. However, Pritt told the Post Independent Monday that the department was unable to find any “wiggle room” in its budget. 

“It takes about seven days for the benefits to actually get loaded onto the EBT card, so once the (federal) budget is approved, there’s going to be a slight delay between that time and the time that recipients actually see those benefits on their card,” Longhurst-Pritt said. “As of (Oct. 21) there’s going to be a delay, it’s just a question of how long of a delay based off of when the federal budget is approved.” Pritt later added that it’s currently unclear whether or not SNAP benefits will be backdated if funding is continued for the program later this year. 

On Thursday, the Colorado government approved $10 million in state funding to expand grants for food banks and pantries statewide, boosting their buying power as those without SNAP benefits turn to other community resources. 

Organizations like Food Bank of the Rockies will turn the extra funding into more food for local partner organizations with a distribution rate tied directly to the amount of SNAP benefits lost in each community, according to Amber Henning, director of development and community relations for Food Bank of the Rockies. 

Colorado, along with 24 other states and the District of Columbia, also filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on Oct. 28 in hopes of forcing the administration to use emergency contingency funds to keep the SNAP program funded for more than 40 million low-income Americans during the shutdown. 

Food organizations prepare for increase in clients 

Regional food providers —  including Valley Meals and More, LIFT-UP and Food Bank of the Rockies, human service departments and other organizations — are partnering under Mountain Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security, a West Mountain Regional Health Alliance

Initiative, to increase awareness, organize emergency response and rally community support, according to a Wednesday news release from the coalition. 

These food organizations are preparing for an anticipated increase in demand as those who rely on SNAP benefits turn to other resources. 

Food pantries provided by local nonprofit LIFT-UP are currently used supplementally — around 50% of LIFT-UP pantry visitors only stop by once per month — but the organization has already seen an uptick in pantry visits, according to Elyse Hottel, interim director of operations. 

“This is very rough estimate because we don’t have a required field for SNAP benefits on our intake forms, but if you extrapolate it out, we’re thinking about 25% of SNAP recipients are currently registered as pantry visitors, and so we could expect to see 75% of that roughly 4,500 people coming to our pantries in need of extra assistance,” Hottel said. 

Food Bank of the Rockies, which operates mobile pantries in Rifle and Glenwood Springs, has noted a 50% increase in clicks on the ‘find food button’ on its website over the last week, according to Henning. 

“We are really expecting a huge uptick at a lot of our pantries,” Henning said. “Even before all of these things happened, we were seeing about a 20% increase at some of our mobile pantry locations from year over year, so the need has already been growing…we’re at a 10 year high, without any of these things that we’re talking about today, for hunger.” 

Food delivery service Valley Meals and More delivers meals to seniors in eastern Garfield County, where Executive Director Mary Kenyon said she expects the loss of SNAP benefits to be felt quickly.

“Older adults aren’t only losing their SNAP benefits, they’re losing their meals, meals that they anticipated having money to buy,” Kenyon said. “So, of course, they’re gonna look around and say, ‘Who else delivers meals?’ and that’s how they find their way to Valley Meals.

“Our program will be stretched thin — there’s no question,” she added. “But we’re committed to our mission, and that is that no senior goes hungry.”

Community call to action 

Local food organizations are calling on the community to provide extra support during the SNAP funding freeze through monetary donations and volunteer shifts. 

“We’re encouraging people to go right to the food sources — go to the food banks, come to us,, donate where they know they can follow the funding trail, and that their organizations are putting the money into the distribution of the food right now,” Kenyon said. “We’re not building reserves. We’re not putting money in the bank. We’ll use the funding to distribute meals right now.”

Volunteers are also needed. 

“Another great way for community members to help this SNAP benefit suspension is to volunteer,” Kenyon added. “If they’re not in a position to contribute financially, but they have time to make deliveries, the volunteers making the deliveries are just as important as the funding for the meals, because without the volunteers, we can’t get the meals out.”

Other food resources

Food organizations and county officials urge those who may be losing SNAP benefits to utilize other area resources such as congregate meals and food pantries. 

Garfield County’s congregate meals including meat, starch, vegetable or salad, bread and butter, milk or buttermilk and dessert or fruit are held at seven locations throughout Garfield County. Meals are served from 12-12:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and guests should arrive by 11:45 a.m. 

Participants 60 and older are encouraged to pay as they are able, with a recommended contribution of $3 per meal. Guest fees for those under 60 are $12 per meal. 

Reservations must be made by noon at least 24 hours in advance by calling the phone numbers listed for each location. For Monday meals, reservations must be made by the previous Friday.

To find additional resources, visit feedingcolorado.org/find-food/, westmountainhealthalliance.org/resources/, 211colorado.org or email info@feedingcolorado.org.