The Colorado Sun originally published this story on October 22, 2025.
Food banks across Colorado are pleading for extra donations this week ahead of an expected Nov. 1 cutoff of food assistance benefits because of the federal government shutdown.
About 600,000 Coloradans are projected to lose their food assistance. In an online post in red text and labeled “Urgent,” the state Department of Human Services said Tuesday that the federal government has not released funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which means Colorado cannot issue about $120 million in food stamps for next month.
The funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is on hold and Colorado will not issue the benefits “until the federal government restores funding,” the post said.
Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday he is requesting $10 million from the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee to go to food banks from Nov. 1 until mid-December. Polis estimated that the funds — disbursed in $3.3 million increments every two weeks — would enable food banks across the state to purchase as much as $50 million worth of food at retail value.
He also urged Coloradans to donate money to food banks so that they could buy more food to support those losing SNAP benefits and reminded parents to have their children eat free breakfast and lunch at school.
“It’s a mainstay of keeping healthy and nutritious food in front of Colorado low-income families,” Polis said of SNAP at a news conference. “People will go without.”
SNAP recipients receive money on cards each month that they can use to purchase food at grocery stores and farmers markets. The average household getting SNAP benefits receives $367 per month, according to Minna Castillo, deputy executive director of community partnerships at the Department of Human Services.
Colorado receives $1.48 billion per year in federal funds for the SNAP program. That covers 334,590 households and 614,911 people, according to the governor’s office. About 50% of those people are children, 15% have disabilities and 10% are older Coloradans.
Dawn Washington, 55, of Denver, who spoke to reporters after a news conference Wednesday, said she receives about $260 per month from SNAP and worries about how she will get enough food come Nov. 1.
“We shouldn’t be caught up in the politics,” she said, targeting her comments at members of Congress. “They’re still going to go home and eat whatever they’re eating. They don’t care that the food banks are even being stretched as far as they possibly can now.”
Washington, who coordinates programs for the nonprofit Be Well that promotes health and wellness in Denver and Aurora neighborhoods, said she’ll have to rely more on food banks. She wonders how she will be able to put together a Thanksgiving meal for her family.
“My son just asked, ‘What are we doing for Thanksgiving?’” she said. “Whatever the food banks are going to give us, we might have chicken strips for Thanksgiving dinner, but as long as we’re eating, that’s what we need to be thankful for.”
Erin Pulling, CEO of Food Bank of the Rockies, said food banks across the state were already bracing for upcoming cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, the public health insurance program for people with low-incomes and disabilities, that Republicans in Congress passed and Trump signed into law this summer.
Now, they’re gearing up for a spike in people needing food starting Nov. 1.
“This is a crisis within a crisis,” she said.
Food banks and community groups across the state have sent various pleas for help in recent days. In Salida, the Chaffee County Community Foundation issued “an urgent countywide call to action” to implore people to donate to local food pantries or to volunteer to help distribute food. More than 1,200 households in the county receive a combined $360,000 in food assistance each month, said Betsy Dittenber, the foundation’s executive director.
“If that support is interrupted, our local food providers will be the last line of defense,” she said in a news release. “They are ready to respond — but they need immediate community investment to meet the growing need.”
The Food Bank of Larimer County added a new message on its website saying support is “available for everyone, including federal employees, people who work for a federal contractor or other individuals impacted by the shutdown.” The organization gives away food at its “No-Cost Markets” in Fort Collins and Loveland.
In Denver, the arts and youth development nonprofit Youth on Record launched a new effort in response to the threat to SNAP. The group will fill 500 dinner bags with pasta, cheese, bread and desserts and distribute them to local young people each week through December. The temporary campaign is called The Dinner Table Project.
People can find their local food banks online or by calling 211.
The federal government shutdown is entering its fourth week, at day 22. The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday for the 12th time on a bill already passed by the House that would reopen the government.
The Republicans, who control the Senate, need Democrats to vote for the budget in order to get it passed. Democrats want Republicans to agree to extend health insurance subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. Without the subsidies, people who purchase their health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace and receive subsidies will see their premiums double on average.
