TELLER COUNTY, Colo. — As families across Colorado prepare for potential cuts to SNAP benefits, Teller County leaders aren't waiting for state or federal intervention.
They're launching their own comprehensive plan to ensure no resident goes hungry, partnering with local nonprofits to create a coordinated response to what officials call a "perfect storm" of rising food insecurity.
The crisis has been building for months. County Commissioner Dan Williams said the combination of reduced federal and state grants alongside increased demand has created an unprecedented challenge.
"There's been plenty of discussion about a crisis, this food insecurity issue is something that community partnership, you'll talk to Jody and others, El Pamar, state government, we've been talking about this for quite a while, and as you know, it's a perfect storm. Essentially what you have is a combination of federal and state grants that have been reduced by 25% with a need that's increased by 25%. So there's a delta there, and I don't have to tell you food has gone up," said Williams.
The need for food assistance in Teller County has surged dramatically. Food pantries reported a 25% increase in demand compared to previous years, but that figure has now spiked even before any SNAP benefit changes took effect.
"In the last six weeks, that has increased from 25% increase to 50% increase," said Jodi Mijarez, CEO of the Community Partnership Family Resource Center in Woodland Park.
According to Mijarez, four local food agencies serve 9,000 people annually in Teller County. They are listed below:
- Community Partnership Family Resource Center
- Aspen Mine Cente
- Teller Senior Coalition
- Little Chapel Food Pantry
The supply chain challenges have compounded the problem. Williams said food pantries have been struggling with sparse inventory even before the current crisis.
"So, the places that our pantries get their food, for example, stores and shelves have been lacking or (are) very sparse, and so we've been planning for this for a while, even before the shutdown," said Williams.
Storage capacity has become a critical issue for food pantries trying to meet increased demand.
"The food pantries have limited space, and that is an issue, we often do spill over into additional storage that's available within the community. What we're trying to do here is, our Teller County government is recognizing that the need is probably going to increase beyond what community-based organizations are used to providing. And so they're trying to come in preemptively, preventatively, and support us any way they can to make sure that we can meet this additional capacity," said Mijarez.
The demand is overwhelming individual organizations. Williams said one food bank served over 500 people in a single day.
"Yesterday we had over 500 people come to one of our food banks," said Williams.
The families seeking help aren't just unemployed residents. Many are working households struggling to make ends meet.
"A lot of the families that we're serving are two income families, so these are people who are working," said Mijarez.
Williams said about 10% of Teller County's population relies on SNAP benefits, which is approximately 3,000 people out of the county's 30,000 residents. Information pamphlets about potential benefit changes went out two weeks ago, creating additional stress for families.
"Those information pamphlets, they went out two weeks ago, so they've been living with stress for two weeks wondering how they're going to make ends meet," said Williams.
The challenges extend beyond food. Williams said families are also struggling with heating costs and transportation.
"So, we also have people with empty propane tanks. We have people that can't afford gas. All of that has come together," said Williams.
The financial impact reveals the scope of the challenge. Mijarez said the loss of SNAP benefits represents $450,000 monthly.
"What we're losing in the SNAP benefits is basically $450,000 a month in support to our families. That is combined with a combined budget of these four agencies of $325,000 a year for food pantry," said Mijarez.
Rather than wait for the situation to worsen, county leaders decided to take proactive action.
"So what we did today (Tuesday) and with our partners and again with Jody and all the rest of them and the sheriff's department is realizing that we can declare an emergency and do nothing, or we can prevent it from becoming an emergency," said Williams .
The county's approach focuses on community solidarity, asking the majority to help those in need.
"By doing that, basically looking at 90% of the people in our county and asking them to help the 10% in need," said Williams.
To address this challenge, the four nonprofits are joining forces with Teller County. The collaboration includes the following:
- faith-based communities
- emergency managers
- community organizations like Kiwanis
- veteran groups
"This exercise and what we're seeing already is going to far exceed their individual capabilities, so we work collaboratively with them, with a county oversight, with emergency manager, with our first responders, and with county commissioner involvement to make sure that nobody goes hungry," said Williams.
The organizations are forming what they call a "Tiger Team" to create a central distribution center for food and donations with expanded capacity.
"To collect donations of food and monetary resources, we're going to pool it all together so that the organizations that are serving people can focus on serving people and that they can go to these collective resources and take what they need to keep their operations going so we don't have to spend our time trying to figure out and collect resources for this operation that's being done for us, we can just access it when we need it," said Mijarez.
"What you'll see in the days ahead, in the weeks ahead is a centralized distribution planning points but much bigger capacity so that we can store the goods that are given to us," said Williams.
Williams framed the effort as addressing basic human needs.
"It's a Maslow issue. Nobody goes hungry. Nobody's hungry. Nobody is cold. They have a place to shelter," said Williams.
The financial impact on the county would be substantial if they had to cover the costs alone. Williams said replacing lost SNAP benefits would cost approximately $450,000 monthly from county funds, compared to just $325,000 annually in combined local food budgets.
"If today I was required or asked to write a check, and when we considered all the options at this moment, that would be $450,000 out of the county funds. In other words, your taxpayer money. Other things would break as a result of that, whether it's capital improvements or we couldn't invest in something else. We have road maintenance that's ongoing. We have bad weather moving in. We have salaries to pay," said Williams.
Instead, the county is relying on community donations and partnerships to sustain the effort.
"So our initial plan going into this is between private donations, business donations, organizations like we've mentioned, and our food pantries, and we're already seeing it. We're seeing incredible donations come in. We're also seeing incredible donations go out for the 500 yesterday, (Monday) but we think we can hold that model for a while. We're prepared, and I mean this respectfully, we don't expect the cavalry to come," said Williams.
The sustainability challenges facing rural nonprofits extend beyond the current crisis. Mijarez said dependence on government funding creates ongoing uncertainty for organizations trying to maintain qualified staff.
"What keeps me up at night as the CEO of a human services nonprofit organization in a rural community in Colorado is. Dependence upon grants and government funding to provide services and it works really well when things are going well and when things aren't going well with the government we are up at night wondering how to pay our staff. We have trained qualified staff that have a heart for this work. They're the core of our agencies. This community can't survive without people who want to do that work. We need to be able to pay them," said Mijarez.
Williams acknowledged Governor Jared Polis's $10 million allocation for food assistance, but said it won't be sufficient for the statewide need.
"I did have an exchange with Governor Polis about the $10 million. We very much appreciate that. I think a lot of that money though is going to get absorbed by the Front Range and those organizations that backfill our food pantries, and it's going to go quick. Again, $10 million. If I just told you that a small county like ours takes $500,000 to get through a month, it's not going to go very far. But the intent, I believe, for the governor wasn't to make that fill for SNAP. It was to help us with our food banks, which we appreciate," said Williams.
The county is particularly concerned about vulnerable populations, including seniors and shut-ins.
"We have great concerns about shut-ins in our seniors and our most vulnerable populations. So, this is really a model, I believe, for other counties and a model for rural Colorado that says we will take care of our own," said Williams.
Williams said the county's approach stems from frustration with dysfunction at higher levels of government.
"We appreciate any help that we get from the state or the feds, but at this point, respectfully, we're here because of the dysfunction above our level," said Williams.
The urgency of the situation has shifted focus from planning to immediate action.
"We also have state legislators that we're in comms with. Everybody wants to help. The problem is this all takes place Saturday, and so the time for good ideas has kind of run its course, and this is about. As we say up here, doing stuff and so we're doing stuff and we're getting after it," said Williams.
Williams said the community response has been overwhelming.
"Some of the most in need people in our county are the ones coming forward asking what they can give. It's eye-watering.” said Williams.
Despite the challenges ahead, including winter weather preparations, Williams expressed confidence in the community's ability to succeed.
"And we still have to be prepared to do our primary mission. We have snowstorms up here, bad weather, so it's going to be challenging, but you know, I think we can do it. I think we've got a great attitude. And again, I can't say enough for our food pantries. They do this day in and day out," said Williams.
The county is preparing for what could be a challenging winter while also building a model that other rural communities can follow.
"If you're listening and you're an elected official, if you're a mayor or you're a councilperson, you're a county commissioner, if you're not having these discussions now, you need to get on to them really quick," said Williams.
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