GREELEY, Colo.—With the holiday season right around the corner, food is on people’s minds, and local food charities are finding more demand as a result.
The Weld Food Bank has seen more than 800 new families asking for help within the past three months, said Leona Martens, executive director.
Martens said the food bank, which is still helping families impacted by the tornado that hit Windsor in May, is on pace to exhaust its resources by the end of the year.
“We will make it over the holidays,” Martens said. “We have no idea what we will be doing Jan. 2, because at this rate we are going to be giving everything out that we have got.”
The holiday season is typically a busy time for the food bank, which works with 35 agencies throughout Weld County to distribute food, but Martens said there was a spike in need this year due to increasing costs and people losing their jobs.
“We got so many new folks that have been on the donating end, and now they are having hard times,” Martens said.
Saturday morning in front of the King Soopers in Windsor, volunteers with the Weld Food Bank collected nonperishable foods.
Stephanie Smith, 28, of Windsor dropped off four bags of canned goods along with soap and toothpaste.
“I think I’m pretty lucky with the way things are,” Smith said. “I know a lot of people struggle, and things are pretty tough.”
The drive accumulated around 1,300 pounds of food by noon, which volunteers sifted through later that afternoon at the food bank.
Brian Coleman, 47, of Greeley sorted through bins of canned peas and boxes of cereal Saturday afternoon, examining expiration dates before segregating the food. Coleman volunteered along with 12 other members of the Greeley Institute of Religion, a University of Northern Colorado Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints organization.
“I think it is important to help out,” said Kristin Nelson, 26, with the church. “Even as hard as these times are there are people worse off than myself.”
Other food charities have seen similar increases in demand this fall.
The nonprofit organization Food Share America, formerly SHARE Colorado, helps residents of Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming save around 50 percent on groceries.
The program, which is open to anyone, purchases common items such as fish, vegetables or meats through a national affiliate and sells them at a discounted rate. Rhonda Woodruff, marketing director for Food Share America, said with the slumping economy and holidays around the corner, she has seen an increase in orders.
“I attribute that to the holiday season, and people might be buying some extra packages for people in need,” Woodruff said.
Despite the recent increase in orders, Woodruff said they have had no problem filling them.
“It’s open to anybody and everybody,” Woodruff said. ‘Someone can order as much food as they want or as little as they want.”
