About Hunger
No one deserves to be food insecure.
Food insecurity in Larimer County often goes unnoticed. We live in a great community, so it’s easy to overlook hunger when it doesn’t touch you or someone you love. Hunger hides behind closed doors. It lives in the home of a single mother who skips dinner to make sure her children have enough to eat. It lives in the apartment of the grandfather who has to choose between a meal and taking his medicine. It lives in the bedroom of a young child who has to make it all night without food until the next school day when she knows she will be fed.
What is Food Insecurity?
The USDA defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life.
In Larimer County, almost 10 percent of the population may be facing food insecurity. That’s more than 30,000 people—a number equal to the population of an entire city.
The Food Bank Really Helps
We believe that food insecurity is completely unacceptable. Everyone deserves consistent access to the nutritious food they need.
We also know that hunger is a problem that can be solved in our community, and there is an abundance of strong evidence supporting that view.
The Food Bank for Larimer County was the subject of a large study conducted by researchers at Cornell University, designed to gain a better understanding of the real economic impact food banks have. The researchers found that even after accounting for transportation costs and time spent visiting our Fresh Food Share pantries, most clients were able to bring home an average of up to $1,000 worth of groceries each year.
We know from speaking to our clients that many rely on our Fresh Food Share pantries for more than half of the food consumed in their home. This support is especially crucial for those who may be unable to work or are living on fixed incomes.
Researchers at Cornell University found that visiting our Fresh Food Share pantries saved clients significant amounts of money on groceries.
Many of our clients have been generous enough to share their stories, telling us how food insecurity affects them and how the Food Bank helps.
HOW WE FIGHT HUNGER
We distributed enough food for
8.3 million meals
in 2022
Efficiency:
93%
of all contributed resources go directly to our hunger-relief programs.
37%
of distributed food was fruits and vegetables.
1.8 million
Pounds of food were distributed to our Nourishing Network, which consists of 120 local nonprofits. Collectively, we helped the organizations save more than $3.1 million as they worked to distribute food to our community.
We reach
90%
of Larimer County's food-insecure population.
2,604
We helped 2,604 households apply for SNAP benefits, bringing $8.8 million in economic benefit to the local economy.
Food Rescue Program
Food for People, Not Landfills
Billions of pounds of food go to waste each year in the United States. The Food Bank for Larimer County helps to eliminate some of that waste by rescuing surplus food from manufacturers, distributors, supermarkets, processors and brokers and distributing that food to those in need.
A great deal of food cannot be marketed by its manufacturer due to product overruns, off specifications, short-dated products, reformulations, mislabeled and unlabeled packaging and discontinued brands, but is perfectly suitable for consumption. This is where the Food Bank for Larimer County steps in.
Our food rescue program is an important and viable source of nutritious food for the Food Bank for Larimer County and our member agencies. Each week, our drivers visit more than 30 local retail outlets in Larimer County, including Walmart/Sam’s Club, King Soopers, Safeway, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Lucky’s Market, Entenmann’s, Target and Sprouts to pick up surplus foods such as fresh meats and produce, dairy items, baked goods and non-perishable canned goods. This is great food that would otherwise be thrown away, but instead, we distribute it through our hunger-relief programs, including Food Share and our mobile pantries.
For more information on how your business can become a part of the Food Resource Program or if you have a large food delivery you would like to donate, please email or call our Food Resource Manager at 970-530-3111.
