Visiting Colorado food banks & U.S. Representative
October 1, 2024
Staff from the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger recently took some time to visit our friends with Feeding Colorado and learn more about food bank operations. Feeding Colorado is the collaborative effort of the five Feeding America food banks that serve Colorado and Wyoming to coordinate and enhance food resources, ensuring food-insecure Coloradans have access to healthy, fresh foods. Together, the five food banks collectively distribute food to more than 1,300 nonprofit agencies statewide across Colorado (and Wyoming).
A visit with staff at the Food Bank of Larimer County helped our team in becoming better advocates for federal nutrition programs like The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), and Local Food Purchasing Program.
The Blueprint and Feeding Colorado share a vision of ending hunger in Colorado. In the words of Feeding Colorado’s Government Relations Manager, Sarah Mason, “We need policies that get food to those in our pantry lines, policies that shorten those lines, and policies that make sure we no longer need the lines.”
In September, our Policy Manager, Dayana Leyva – along with advocates from Bread For World, Colorado Center on Aging, Save the Children Action Network, and Growing Home – met with U.S. Representative Yadira Caraveo.
With the end of the fiscal year nearing for Congress, we collectively advocated for a strong Farm Bill that prioritizes protecting SNAP and the Thrifty Food Plan, protections for stolen SNAP benefits, and protection for the Food for Peace program that delivers food aid globally. Advocates also highlighted the need for government response to the rising food insecurity rates that are leaving our charitable systems, like faith-based organizations, unable to meet the rising demand for emergency food assistance.