With federal food aid lapsing amid a long-running government shutdown, local food banks are stepping in to fill the gap for Grand Valley residents that count on those services. It’s no small task.

“In the last two weeks, we’ve seen over 120 new households receiving food, and usually we only see about 100 new households in a month’s time,” said Clifton Christian Church Food Bank Executive Director Jackie Feaster. “We ended up purchasing $20,000 more food this month, to be prepared for the increase due to the SNAP benefits.”

Other local hunger relief groups reported similar increases in demand over the last few weeks.

The Grand Junction Community Food Bank reported that its new client registrations have doubled since SNAP concerns began circulating in late October, to nearly 80 households

See Full Page