A coworker, someone sitting next to you on the bus or even a friend or family member may be struggling to feed their families, or themselves. According to the Colorado Health Institute, nearly 13 percent of residents along the I-70 mountain corridor ate less than they should have in 2019 because of financial troubles.
The Food Bank of the Rockies is a statewide organization working to help communities struggling with hunger. They help feed almost a thousand people a month in the Roaring Fork Valley through their mobile food banks.
It’s a cold, rainy day in Basalt, and 50 people or so are lined up in a parking lot, holding empty tote bags, boxes and laundry hampers. Seniors, families and single young adults are mixed together, all waiting for the same thing: food.
“This is not a big turnout. Sometimes we have 100 people,” Julie Phillips said, a fifty-year resident of the Roaring Fork Valley. She's been a volunteer with the Food Bank of the Rockies for two years.
Phillips and other volunteers dash around, unloading fresh produce, frozen meats, canned goods and other foods onto long white folding tables.
There are about 17,000 pounds of food to unload. Phillips said the people in line will take it all home.
“It all goes down to the last can. We don’t take anything back,” she said.
Josh Spencer drives over 100 miles from the Palisade Food Bank of the Rockies warehouse to deliver food to people in the Roaring Fork Valley.
After doing it for the last few years, Spencer says it is easy to make friendships with some of the recipients, but it can be complicated.
“It’s a catch 22. I love doing [the food banks] and seeing the people, especially the familiar faces. I’m happy to see them come back because they’re getting what they need,” he said. “Then, it’s sad to see them not come back ever again, but by the same token, I know they’re doing good, so they don’t need it.”
Jill Heidel works with Spencer and drives from Palisade for each mobile pantry in the Roaring Fork Valley. She says food insecurity can touch anyone.
“It could be your neighbor, it could be your boss, it could be anybody,” she said.
Heidel said especially for people in the valley facing high costs of living, one bill could easily set any family back.
“A lot of people do have some extremely high bills. Sometimes food gets down there on the list, and it can be difficult,” Heidel said.
Now that it is the holiday season, both Heidel and Spencer say people are more willing to give food or their time to a good cause, like the Food Bank of the Rockies. But they want people to remember hunger is a year-round problem.
“The need is always there, and it’s always going to be there. It’s never going to go away in the foreseeable future,” Spencer said. “So it’s always a time for giving.”
The tables are emptying as families go through the line. Volunteers hand over entire boxes of canned goods. Children run them to their family’s car as their parents get more.
Once again, Spencer and Heidel will pack up thousands of pounds of food for the food bank in Aspen Wednesday, and again next week in El Jebel.
And they will keep doing it, rain or shine, holiday season or not, to help families stock their shelves.