For some of Denver’s struggling families, resources to help feed their children through the holiday break are limited.
Even though charity and giving increase around Christmastime, families who are struggling aren’t always visible, and the help doesn’t always reach them.
“If you asked most folks, ‘Who do you think is hungry?’, most would say the gentlemen on the street with the sign,” said Kathy Underhill, executive director of the nonprofit Hunger Free Colorado. “They’re not thinking it’s a baby or a toddler or a preschooler, but that’s the reality.”
During the summer vacation, many school districts, including to students from low-income families. This summer, DPS served a daily average of 3,324 breakfasts and 5,388 lunches.
According to the Colorado Department of Education, 356,890 students (42.2 percent) in the state’s K-12 public schools were eligible for free or reduced lunches in the 2013-14 school year.
But because of federal guidelines and because most schools don’t have any activities during the winter break, many of those food services are not available this time of year.
Hunger Free Colorado runs a hotline to direct people to food resources. During holiday weeks, when kids aren’t in school, call volumes spike.
This week, the group has fielded nearly 50 calls. Last month, during Thanksgiving break, the organization was getting about 60 calls a day.
Community Ministry of Southwest Denver is one of the organizations that help provide food during the holidays.
On Monday, the nonprofit handed out 300 food boxes, including one that 35-year-old Mayra Chavez picked up.
The mother of three said her husband works and they receive food stamps, but “sometimes it’s just not enough.”
One of those times, Chavez said, is when her kids are off from school.
“They’re home all day, bored and just wanting to eat,” Chavez said.
Many community food banks, including the community ministry, are closed for a few days during the holidays, but they try to help plan ahead.
“We are mostly run by volunteers, and that’s the only time they take off,” said Joyce Neufeld, director of the Community Ministry of Southwest Denver.
But, she says, the food bank leader “tends to overload them toward the end of the year, as much as possible, to get them through that time.”
In Denver, the DPS Homeless Education Network provided “snack packs” and gift cards for groceries for some of the 1,700 students identified as homeless this year.
“Before the recession, we saw more distribution on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, but a lot of the emergency providers have cut back, just because of their own financial limitations,” Underhill said. “Everything kind of conspires to create a lot more unmet need.”
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or twitter.com/yeseniarobles
