DENVER -- School closures are affecting more than 700,000 students across Colorado, and schools, nonprofits and community groups are working together and getting creative to ensure that they can continue to get nutritious meals during the COVID-19 crisis.

Paola Babb, community engagement and child nutrition manager for hungerfreecolorado.org, said drive-by and delivery services are up and running to get food to families and maintain social distancing.

"Pantries are doing more boxed models; it's easier for them to just come and pick it up," she said. "Some schools are deploying their buses, and they're going to all the bus stops to deliver food."

To find an open food pantry near you, and for up-to-date information on schools providing free meals to all kids age 18 and younger, regardless of where they attend school, look online at hungerfreecolorado.org or call the group's toll-free food resource hotline at 855-855-4626.

Babb's group also has been working at the federal level to pass legislation that would, among other things, temporarily waive requirements that can be barriers to getting food assistance to all Americans in need. Even during non-crisis times, Babb said, one in 11 Coloradans frequently doesn't know where his or her next meal is coming from.

"People sometime have to make a choice," she said. "Do they pay for food, or do they pay for their electricity, their heat? Right now, with what we're seeing with COVID-19, people are not working, so they're having to pay their rent still, even though they might not be getting paid."

Last week, the U.S. House passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. It would increase emergency funding for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, as well as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, and nutrition programs for older Americans. The Senate is expected to vote on it as early as this week. Details of that legislation, HR 6201, are online at house.gov.

Several federal programs may face budget cuts as the new administration proposes sweeping actions to reduce the federal debt.

Advocates for the safety-net programs in Tennessee said cuts would jeopardize food access, health insurance and essential services for tens of thousands of people.

Signe Anderson, senior director of nutrition advocacy at the Tennessee Justice Center, said key decisions early next year will significantly affect funding for Medicaid, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. She pointed out on average, about 750,000 Tennesseans per month receive SNAP benefits.

"Tennesseans will have less access to health care and to food," Anderson projected. "Programs that are in place now that offer health care to Tennesseans will become more limited - and the same with the SNAP program, will become more limited."

The Tennessee Justice Center hosts a free webinar today at 11:30 a.m. to discuss how groups across the country are organizing responses to potential cuts and their impacts on communities. More than 1.4 million Tennesseans are enrolled in Medicaid.

Anderson noted another federal program providing summer meals to hundreds of thousands of Tennessee children will expire unless Gov. Bill Lee renews it by Jan. 1, which he has indicated he does not plan to do.

The Summer EBT program provides families with $40 a month during the summer, for extra help paying for food when kids are out of school.

"DHS reported to USDA that nearly 700,000 children participated this past summer," Anderson emphasized. "Tennessee has been very, very successful in rolling out the program, and we're one of the only southeast states last year that participated."

Anderson stressed advocates for maintaining Summer EBT have delivered more than 2,200 signatures on petitions to the governor's office. She added more than $78 million in Summer EBT benefits also boost the local economy through grocery store spending.


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Hunger doesn't retire, yet millions of older Americans struggling to afford food may not realize help is within reach.

Misconceptions and stigma often prevent eligible seniors from accessing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation's largest anti-hunger initiative.

However, with simplified application processes and renewed outreach efforts, advocates are working to break down these barriers and connect seniors with the support they need.

Norm Gold - a consultant with Feeding America and an AARP community ambassador - highlighted these challenges and the importance of outreach.

"If it's too much of a pain for them to do it, they don't," said Gold. "Most seniors don't want to have to deal with it, honestly, I'm one of them, I'll be 70, and that's just the way older people are. To make it easy, that's why they've got the simplified application. That's what's made it much easier for them. "

A free webinar tomorrow aims to clear up myths and misconceptions about SNAP benefits, and highlight how the program supports older adults struggling with food insecurity.

The event, titled "SNAP Food Benefit Myths, Rumors and Misconceptions," begins at 1:30 p.m. and is open to everyone who registers at events.aarp.org.

Brian Jacks is associate state director for community outreach at AARP Virginia. He emphasized the benefits of clearing out misconceptions to help encourage more seniors to apply.

"Number one, SNAP is not just for families with children," said Jacks. "Any adult of any age who meets the income requirements is eligible. Secondly, your participation in SNAP will not take the benefit from anyone else who needs it."

To encourage participation, AARP Virginia has worked with food banks and community ambassadors to conduct outreach through health fairs and festivals, distributing materials highlighting SNAP benefits.

People can call 211 to connect with local resources for direct assistance with accessing SNAP benefits.

Colorado is distributing over $2.6 million to food banks and pantries to ensure that the state's one in seven children facing hunger can access nutritious food.

Duane Gurule co-founded the Small Town Project in Rocky Ford, an area famous for its melons.

He said the $45,000 Community Food Grant will help families access a wide variety of fresh foods, including beef from local ranchers.

"Pinto beans, potatoes, eggs, poultry, chilis and tomatoes, asparagus," said Gurule, "of course our melons, Palisade peaches, and Olathe sweet corn."

The grants approved by the state legislature this year aim to help nearly 90 food banks and pantries across the state create local solutions to unique local challenges, in part by boosting local farms and ranches.

The program is administered by the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger in partnership with the state's Department of Human Services.

Food costs remain stubbornly high in the wake of record grocery chain profits and pandemic-related supply chain disruptions.

Sue Fegelein, executive director of LiftUp of Routt County, said people are also facing rising housing and other costs.

She said the new grant will help more neighbors, many of whom are seeking assistance for the first time, keep their heads above water.

"Our clients are working more than one job, and still unable to make ends meet," said Fegelein. "And things happen where their rent jumps by a thousand dollars when their lease is up, or the cost of child care is as much as a mortgage."

Gurule is also Rocky Ford's mayor.

He said the grant's economic impacts - much like those of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which create $1.50 in economic impacts for every dollar invested - extend beyond the individuals and families being served.

"The Community Food Grant, that's an additional $45,000 coming directly down into this area that wouldn't have otherwise," said Gurule. "So that money is circulating, it's helping keep our local grocers and our local producers in business."



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