Food is something every one of us needs. Regardless of age, background, address, race, gender, or circumstance, we all eat. Yet, one in eight people across the Western Slope is experiencing food insecurity today. Every meal has a story, and, for many of our Western Slope neighbors, a job loss, medical emergency, or an unexpected expense can make eating on a regular basis feel impossible.
Your support ensures that when that moment comes, our Western Slope neighbors have food on their tables.
Through your support, Food Bank of the Rockies can reach communities across the Western Slope with the nourishment every person deserves. No matter where someone lives or what challenges they’re facing, your support helps our neighbors feel they are not alone.
Below are some stories from just a fraction of the neighbors you helped us nourish.
Melissa and Jeremiah
Melissa and Jeremiah came together to pick up food for two separate households.
“He’s here to help me,” Melissa explained, who had driven 40 miles from her home in De Beque. The support she gets through SNAP does not last the full month. “It’s hard with today’s cost of living,” for her household of seven, she said, which includes three grandchildren.
Gretchen
Gretchen was born and raised in Palisade. She moved away years ago, but returned to the Grand Valley to care for her brother who is in home hospice care.
Her brother lives in low-income housing and, because her name wasn’t on the lease, she wasn’t allowed to live with him when she first moved back to Colorado.
“I had to stay at the shelter,” she shared. “I’d cook breakfast at the shelter and then go on the bus to my brother’s house for the day, to do laundry, cook. And then I’d go back to the shelter at 5 p.m. I did that for a year. I was finally allowed to live with my brother as his caregiver.”
Gretchen is appreciative of the food she receives from Food Bank of the Rockies, particularly the produce.
Lori
Lori is an older adult with a disability. She shared that she is also retired and a widow.
“This helps me a lot,” she said. “If not for the food bank and this church, I wouldn’t be here. I would have starved to death.”
Delilah and James
Delilah and James visited one of our mobile pantries together. James was picking up food for three adults. Delilah is his care provider. She was picking up food for her household of four.
“I’ve been using the pantry for two years,” James said. “I’m disabled. I broke my neck while working in law enforcement in 2009. It has helped us through amazing times. This covers all the basics; it’s super nice.”
Misty
Misty moved to Colorado in 2018, after Hurricane Harvey destroyed her house in Texas in 2017. “I lived in a tent for eight-and-a-half months after Hurricane Harvey,” Misty said. “It destroyed everything. There was four feet of water inside the house. I had to surrender my cats after the flood. Me and my mom, step-dad, and two brothers – it flooded us all out.” Her step-dad has since passed away, and she lives with and takes care of her mother who is disabled.
“I’ve been coming here ever since,” she explained, regarding the mobile pantry. “I look forward to all of it. Everything is great.”
