The number of people struggling to put food on the table continues to rise in Pitkin, Garfield and Eagle counties, despite a strong network of hunger relief organizations and resources.
A new report from the Mountain Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security, published earlier this week, found significant gaps in food assistance across the tri-county area for older adults and people living in smaller, rural communities.
The coalition conducted a six-month analysis of the region’s food assistance ecosystem, including food pantries, mobile markets, home-delivered meals and federal nutrition programs.
Food Bank of the Rockies is one of the 12 organizations in the Mountain Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security. Amber Henning, director of development and community relations for the food bank, noted that hunger is at a 12-year high on the Western Slope.
According to Henning, Food Bank of the Rockies delivered close to one million more pounds of food across 13 Western Slope counties in fiscal year 2026 than in 2025.
“That really illustrates that the need has been increasing,” she said. “And certainly we've seen more neighbors coming to mobile pantries. We've seen more requests from our hunger relief partners for more resources.”
Federal legislation imposed new work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, that went into effect over the summer.
Sharon Longhurst-Pritt, the director of Human Services for Garfield County, said that those changes haven’t affected the number of people applying for and receiving SNAP benefits in Garfield County yet. However, inflation has reduced what they can buy.
“Individuals are still eligible for SNAP, and they're still accessing SNAP,” she said. “It just hasn't kept up with the increase in cost related to food.”
Inflation is also putting additional pressure on local food assistance budgets, said Samantha Freese, the executive director of LIFT-UP, a nonprofit that provides food assistance from Aspen to Parachute.
“It's not just the cost of food or getting the donations of the food, she said. “It's everything that goes into the logistics of getting the food to where it needs to go” — from gas to vehicle repairs.
Freese added that other factors contribute to food insecurity. People who make just over the income limit to qualify for SNAP still face challenges feeding their families, and food assistance providers say there’s still a social stigma around receiving government assistance.
“As a society, we put a lot of pressure on,” said Freese, adding that there’s a narrative around “if you're working, you should be able to afford everything.”
According to the report, significant geographic gaps in food assistance still exist across the tri-county region. Population centers like Carbondale and Rifle have robust services, while smaller localities like Redstone, Silt, and Basalt offer minimal to no food security programs.
The report recommended three strategies to help close those gaps: organizations can expand the availability of emergency 72-hour food bags, add more mobile pantry sites in communities with fewer resources and increase home-delivered meals for seniors living in hard-to-reach areas.
