Important Dates
Closures:
- Friday, June 12 – Food Bank of the Rockies is closed all day as we will be without power for the interconnection of our new solar system
- Tuesday, June 30 – Food Bank of the Rockies is open until 11:15 a.m. for order pick-up and Fresh Food Center due to month-end closure
- Friday, July 3 – Food Bank of the Rockies is closed all day for Independence Day.
- Friday, July 31 – Food Bank of the Rockies is closed all day for the All-Staff Quarterly Meeting.
Hunger Relief Partner Orientations:
- Wednesday, June 10, 1:00 p.m. – Hunger Relief Partner Orientation (in-person tour + orientation)
- Thursday, June 18, 1:00 p.m. – Hunger Relief Partner Orientation (virtual)
- Tuesday, July 7, 10:00 a.m. – Hunger Relief Partner Orientation (virtual)
- Wednesday, July 15, 1:00 p.m. – Hunger Relief Partner Orientation (in-person tour + orientation)
- Thursday, July 23, 1:00 p.m. – Hunger Relief Partner Orientation (virtual)
To sign up for orientation or for questions about any of the dates above, contact partnersolutions@foodbankrockies.org. For our full, detailed calendars, please click here.
Feeding Colorado Advocacy/Policy Update
Feeding Colorado is the state association of the five Feeding America food banks serving all of Colorado and Wyoming.
Congressional FY27 Appropriations
The US House Appropriations Committee passed an FY27 funding bill that proposes the following:
- Cutting WIC funding by $200 million and the WIC fruit and vegetable benefit by $140 million. The WIC program provides healthy food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and healthcare referrals to low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding individuals, as well as infants and children under the age of 5.
- Cutting The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) storage and distribution funding by $5 million. TEFAP is one of our core federal nutrition programs and represents roughly 20% of the food Feeding Colorado distributes, reaching as high as 40-50% in rural Colorado communities. Storage and distribution funding are vital to the ability to get food where it is most needed. This proposal to decrease storage and distribution funding will directly inhibit our capacity to serve rural communities across our state.
The bill still needs to pass the US House floor and the US Senate. We issued an advocacy alert with a template letter where you can make your voice heard if you have not already.
Feeding Colorado State Conference
We hosted our annual Feeding Colorado State Conference at Food Bank of the Rockies last month in partnership with our five food banks- bringing together food bank staff from across Colorado and Wyoming! It was an exciting day of sessions and round table discussions full of connection, learning, and building from our collective strengths. A great reminder of our shared values, commitment, and food banking spirit!
Farm Bill Update
US Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman is planning to introduce the Senate version of the Farm Bill before the end of this month. Historically the Senate does not adopt a House version of the Farm Bill; they build their own. Should a Farm Bill pass out of the Senate Agriculture Committee, it will require 60 votes.
Last year’s HR1 shifts a percentage of the cost of SNAP benefits to states for the first time. Committee Democrats, including Senator Bennet, have released a statement underscoring the importance of a two-year delay in the SNAP benefit cost shift. A delay would give states more time to find additional funds. Given the slim majority in the Senate, a negotiated Farm Bill with bipartisan support is the likely outcome. Feeding America is working on a TEFAP bill to show support for the program with the aim of including TEFAP in a Senate Farm Bill or supplemental appropriations bill.
Program Updates
Partner Solutions
New Hours for pick-up and the fresh food center (shopping)
To assist our team in effectively managing the end of the day, we will be changing the shopping and ordering time slots starting in June. The last shopping time for pick-up and the fresh food center will now be 3:15 PM.
The hours for pick-up are as follows:
- 8:45 AM – 11:30 AM
- Closed for lunch 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
- 12:45 PM – 3:15 PM
The shopping hours for the Fresh Food Center are:
- 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
- Closed for lunch 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
- 1:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Thank you for making sure to arrive on time for your pick-up and scheduled shopping times.
Thank you for understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to mailto:mpartnersolutions@foodbankrockies.org.
Community Connections
Partner Highlight
This month we are highlighting Good Shepherd Food Bank in Northglenn, an established and trusted pantry of the community church. Despite its basement corner location, the pantry is brightened by large windows overlooking a small garden courtyard, topped only by the warm and welcoming smiles of the greeters.
After welcoming three new Spanish speaking staff members, Ann Friedrich, the Director of the Food Pantry, noticed she was hearing more Spanish conversations around her, and the pantry became even more lively. To respond to the increasingly large group of Hispanic neighbors visiting their pantry, their team added shopping at Mi Pueblo, the local Mexican grocery store to find additional items for the growing Hispanic population they were serving. Talk about going above and beyond to source foods for our communities that are relevant and meaningful to them!
To each and every Hunger Relief Partner: Thank you for all you do to support the neighbors in your communities! If you have questions about best practices or ways to make your pantry space more welcoming and accessible to neighbors, you can look at our Cultural Resources in the Partner Resources section of the Partner Portal, or you can reach out to partnersolutions@foodbankrockies.org to be learn more.
Government Programs
Save the Date!
The Food Bank of the Rockies Government Programs team and our partners at the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) are hosting a TEFAP & CSFP Conference on July 23, 2026, at our brand-new facility in Aurora, CO. Session topics include USDA allocations, program best practices and updates from Feeding Colorado. Check out the tentative agenda! Questions? Email Britni Stupin, Director of Food Distribution Strategy, at bstupin@foodbankrockies.org
We hope you can join us for a day of connection!
Help Neighbors Get Their Food!
Appointments, mobility challenges, and work schedules impact neighbors’ ability to access food. If a neighbor can’t make it to a food distribution, they can still receive food by using a proxy (someone they trust to pick up on their behalf).
Here’s the scoop:
- CSFP and TEFAP require a proxy form for someone else to pick up food
- Proxy forms must be renewed yearly
- Agencies must keep proxy forms on file
Get the forms here:
Culturally Responsive Food Initiative Update
The Building Belonging Lunch & Learn: Fire & Extreme Weather Preparedness brought together hunger relief partners, emergency preparedness leaders, and community response experts from across Colorado and Wyoming to discuss practical strategies for preparing for and responding to extreme weather events. As wildfires, poor air quality, high winds, and power disruptions continue to impact communities across the region, the session focused on helping organizations strengthen preparedness efforts while maintaining safe, welcoming, and reliable food access for neighbors.
Speakers from the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control, Mile High United Way / Colorado VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster), and Xcel Energy shared real-world insights on wildfire preparedness, Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), community coordination, communication strategies, and continuity planning. The conversation highlighted the importance of clear communication, emergency planning, collaboration, and adaptable service models during disruptions. Partners also received resources and tools to support preparedness efforts within their own organizations and communities.
If you would like to revisit the session or share it with your team, the recording is available here: Building Belonging Lunch & Learn Sessions
If you would like to review a guide detailing how to prepare for extreme weather events at your food program, please click here: Building Belonging Safety Guide
To help support partners during extreme weather events, natural disasters, or other disruptions, Food Bank of the Rockies is gathering contact information for organizations that would like to receive outreach from our internal safety and support teams during emergencies.
Whether or not you were able to attend or watch the recording, we would love to hear from you! We would greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to complete a short survey — your feedback helps us continue designing meaningful and practical content that best supports our partners and communities.
Survey Link: https://forms.gle/WNooXBiZjvsenTkH6
Thank you again for all you do to support your communities every day.