Food insecurity in Colorado has climbed to its highest point in 12 years, according to Food Bank of the Rockies, as federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program strip benefits from tens of thousands of residents just as grocery prices keep climbing. The strain was on full display Wednesday when U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet joined a roundtable at the organization's Aurora distribution center, where about 100 volunteers packed food boxes for families across the region.
Erin Pulling, president and CEO of Food Bank of the Rockies, told Bennet during the visit that the organization expanded east into Aurora to increase capacity and efficiency, and that need has grown because of SNAP reductions layered on top of a high cost of living, as reported by Colorado Public Radio. Food Bank of the Rockies is a hunger-relief organization, and the outlet notes the nonprofit has described the current level of food insecurity as a 12-year high. The Aurora facility itself, a $75 million, 270,000-square-foot hub that opened in February, followed a prior location the organization had used for 19 years, according to the Denver Business Journal.
SNAP Rollback Hits 40,000 Coloradans
The current round of federal cuts has significantly reduced SNAP benefits. Ron Meehan, government relations manager with Feeding Colorado, said about 40,000 Colorado residents have lost access to SNAP in the past year.
Food Banks Describe Families Stretched Thin
Steph Wayne, who works at the Adams County Emergency Food Bank, said the pantry has registered 3,400 new people since January. Wayne said reduced monthly benefits undermine recipients' dignity and their ability to choose their own food, the Colorado Public Radio report notes.
Emily Stromquist, executive director of Food for Hope, said the organization has seen increased demand. At Project Worthmore in Aurora, food distribution climbed 63% from January through September of this year, reaching 400,000 pounds, while spending on staples rose by the same share and the number of households served grew 20%.
Bigger Capacity, Bigger Savings
Food Bank of the Rockies' new Aurora hub doubled the organization's cold-storage capacity to 52,000 square feet and expanded kitchen space fourfold compared with the old Denver facility, per the Denver Business Journal. The building also runs on a 1.3-megawatt rooftop solar system with more than 2,000 panels that offsets about 87% of its electricity use, a design Hoodline previously reported saves the nonprofit more than $500,000 a year and is projected to fund roughly 1.5 million additional meals annually.
Food insecurity is not spread evenly across the state. Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap data for 2026 shows rates ranging from 6.9% in Elbert County to 23.6% in Costilla County, with eight southern Colorado counties at or above 20%, compared with a statewide average of 13.3%, according to The Data Love Co.
Bennet Pushes Farm Bill Fix
Bennet has said SNAP support is a priority for the next Farm Bill. He has also said teachers are relying on food banks.
Feeding Colorado coordinates for five partner food banks in a state where baseline SNAP benefits total about $120 million monthly for more than 600,000 residents, per 9News. Food bank executives and policy experts have stressed that charitable networks cannot fully replace federal nutrition support on that scale.
State Aid Has Stepped In Before
This is not the first time Colorado's government has intervened to backstop food banks during federal disruptions. A year ago, Gov. Jared Polis requested $10 million in emergency general funds from the Colorado Joint Budget Committee to support Feeding Colorado pantries amid federal benefit delays and shutdown threats, as Hoodline reported at the time in its coverage of the emergency funding request.
Federal SNAP changes have resulted in lost benefits for some recipients even as grocery costs keep rising.
