Some community resources cut amid soaring demand

Organizations were struggling before the migrant influx

Facing high demand caused at least in part by the influx of migrants to the city, Denver nonprofit food distributors are cutting services in an attempt to disperse food resources equitably.

But these adjustments come not out of strategy but rather necessity, as a system that was collapsing is now under far more stress, said Juan Sebastian Olivares, mobile outreach coordinator for Hunger Free Colorado, a statewide food advocacy nonprofit.

Metro Caring, an anti-hunger organization featuring a fresh food market downtown, saw nearly 5,000 visits in January, almost double the number recorded in the same month a year prior, said the organization’s Communications & Marketing Specialist Brandon Mckinley. With wait times for a market appointment stretching as long as six weeks, the new clients instead turned to the organization’s emergency bags, filled with ready-to-go food items, for immediate sustenance.

But what was supposed to be an emergency solution became more popular than fresh food appointments, Mckinley said, as visitors routinely sought out a few days of short-term food options in the bags rather than waiting for a chance to get a week of healthier food at the market. To combat this trend, Metro Caring will pause distribution of the bags at the end of February, although Mckinley noted that the agency does not have a definitive timeline for how long the pause will last.

“Sometimes those bags were not filled with enough variety or quality of food that would last folks even a couple of days,” Mckinley said. “The community has shared with us that the (market) model is better, more dig

ANDY CROSS — THE DENVER POST People line up outside the Metro Caring Food Bank in Denver on Feb. 15. The pantry has had to suspend its emergency food bags in the face of increased demand.