The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It’s neighbors helping neighbors”
[ By Kendra Walker ]
The Gunnison Valley was hit especially hard with food insecurity issues this year, as many community members experienced food insecurity for the first time as they faced hardships resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this year also brought to light how many people in the community are fighting hunger, with or without a global pandemic. In the spirit of the giving season, the Gunnison Country Food Pantry is hard at work to help all in need of food assistance.
The need in this valley is larger than we see on the surface, says Gunnison Country Food Pantry executive director Katie Dix. According to Dix, one in six families in Gunnison County lives in poverty. One in three families lives below the subsistence level.
Last year, 801 households asked the food pantry for food assistance. This year, the need increased 78 percent, with 1,425 households asking for help. “This was dramatic. It’s big,” says Dix, who noted the need typically grows by 6 percent or 7 percent each year.
Dix says the food pantry saw a significant influx of new households in April and May earlier this year. “That was when people were frightened from COVID and they didn’t know what their economic future looked like.” Now as we head into winter, the need is beginning to pick up again, she says.
“We think there are approximately 2,300 households living below the subsistence level. We know we’re serving over 1,400 of them.” But Dix estimates that at least 400 families that live under the subsistence level are not coming to the food pantry or other organizations in the valley. There are many barriers for why one might not ask for assistance, Dix says, including stigmas around asking for help; pride; privacy; mobility and accessibility; mental health; language; and education.
“We can’t break down those barriers but we can go around them,” says Dix. “Our pantry is clean, welcoming, generous and non-judgmental. We try very hard to help fight hunger and diminish despair.”
Food assistance in the time of COVID
In order to go around some of those barriers keeping people from seeking help, the food pantry made some changes this year to further its mission to provide food assistance, especially during the pandemic. This includes providing food to anyone who needs it, regardless of his or her situation. “The food pantry is committed to offering a week’s worth of food to anyone who asked for it. If you need food we will hand you food,” says Dix.
In order to follow the county’s COVID-19 health protocols, the pantry now allows one person from a household to come into the pantry for a bundle of food, offering options for bread, staple foods, produce, meat, healthy snacks and dairy products. “We have a bundle ready to hand to each person who comes to our door,” says Dix.
The food pantry also started delivering to those in need of food assistance who may not be able to leave their home due to health, quarantine or mobility reasons. “We had not done home delivery in the past,” said Dix.
The pantry partners with the Senorita Rita’s Rockin’ Reading Route book bus route in Gunnison to bring kid-friendly food-filled Gunny Packs to children in need of food. Currently, the bus route takes Gunny Packs to 32 children each week.
The food pantry also worked with the community of Somerset to organize a food pantry this year, bringing about 2,000 pounds of food to Somerset every month.
The food pantry is also working with local employers to feed their seasonal employees who may need assistance now or in the next shoulder season. Earlier this month, the food pantry brought 350 sample food bags to employees at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Elevation Spa & Resort and the Grand Lodge. The samples included basic food group items with information about the Gunnison and Crested Butte pantries.
“If we can help them know from the get-go where the food resources are, they know they can come to the pantry if they need help,” says Dix. “Gunnison Country Food Pantry is everyone’s safety net. I want to encourage the people out there to come and get some help.”
Community kindness
Fortunately, the community has been very generous in helping provide food to the pantry, says Dix. This year the food pantry received financial donations not only from local community members and local governments, but also the state and the federal government. “Certainly we have never received that level of help before. Businesses and corporations have been far more generous than normal. That’s all due to COVID,” says Dix.
Dix also says the kindness the pantry has received from people who live in the valley has been tremendous. More than 400 people have responded to help this year, and Dix says the pantry gets calls daily from folks looking to volunteer.
“We’re running an average of 75 volunteers a month, serving over 750 hours a month,” Dix says. “We operate with volunteer help and our community makes it happen.”
Local restaurants have jumped in on the cause, offering shift meals to pantry volunteers. “The community understands the kindness and the value of the people who make this happen, and are expressing their appreciation for what we’re doing,” says Dix.
How to help this holiday season
The food pantry is currently running its Red Bucket Drive, with 26 red buckets placed in businesses throughout the valley for collecting food donations. “We’ve already gotten 3,000 pounds of food in and it’s just the beginning of the giving season,” says Dix. “The food drives are critical to getting the pantry through the winter.”
Dix also says monetary donations are welcome, as they help provide the food that balances the nutrition of the canned goods and helps fund the cost of running the pantry. Financial contributions will also help as the pantry does its best to position itself for the economic uncertainties of COVID-19. “This isn’t going to go away and fix itself quickly,” says Dix. “We want to be in the position to make sure we are ready for what’s coming.”
Above all, the Gunnison Country Food Pantry is here to help those seeking food assistance and wants the community to know it’s here. “We serve all of Gunnison County. Our pantry is fighting hunger right here where we are, where we live,” says Dix. “It’s neighbors helping neighbors.”
The Gunnison Country Food Pantry is located at 321-C N. Main Street in Gunnison. The pantry is open on Mondays from 1 to 4 p.m., Wednesdays from 1 to 7 p.m. with Spanish-speaking hours from 4 to 7 p.m. The pantry is open to people ages 60 and older on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The pantry welcomes volunteers, food and donations. Food can be dropped off at the Food Pantry or one of its Red Bucket locations. For more information go to gunnisoncountryfoodpantry.org.
