PANTRY

FROM PAGE 4 prodcue and dairy goods to the rural communities throughout Weld County.

“Small towns and rural communities are among the most signicant driving factors that caused us to start this program over ten years ago,” Edmunds said.

Having the larger refrigerated truck is a game changer, Edmunds said, especially for items such as fresh produce and eggs. ey couldn’t come to Fort Lupton with those items before they had the refrigerated truck,and if somebody wanted them, they needed to come to Greeley to get them.

“Now, with the refrigerated truck, we can bring these beautiful, multicolored peppers, fresh mangoes, and even the dairy,” Edmunds said.

Edmunds said this truck has enough capacity that we can transport food and store it safely.

“We can provide folks that lives in rural communities food where public transportation is unavailable and can’t take the bus to the grocery store or don’t have the money to buy what’s at the grocery store. ey can get food here,” Edmunds said.

Schulz said Aims and Weld partnered to start the Hunger Free Initiative at the campuses.

“I also think the increase in use is related to the COVID-19 Pandemic and its e ects,” Schulz said. “Our pantry used to be a small closet lled with random donated items pre-pandemic. Students would show up in person and select a few items from whatever was currently available.”

Schultz said students couldn’t visit the pantry in person because the stay-at-home order was in place, but she found a way around that.

“I created an online form for students to select the items they needed and arrange for contactless pickup,” Schultz said. “ is shift brought the need for us to have consistent inventory on hand money we already have?”

But Councilor Peter Padilla said the fees made some sense.

“These are costs that we experience today,” Padilla said.

“These are fees generally paid by developers for new developments and very new things, not things I would pay for when I’m remodeling my house. Under our guidance to have developments pay for themselves, if we don’t charge what our costs are then I, as an existing resident, will pay the difference. I would prefer to have the developer pay those costs.” at all times. With the aid of our grants department, we were able to receive grant funding to help us keep our shelves stocked.”

After a short time, Schultz said the simple form she created was no longer e ective because it needed to track inventory going in and out. ey found a solution for that, too.

“We were able to purchase a pantry management software package with some of the grant funding. is new software package allows the student to shop almost like shopping online at any other grocery store,” Schultz said.

“ e implementation of this software platform along with funding to keep the shelves stocked has contributed to increased usage and a decrease in the stigma surrounding using this resource.”

Post COVID increases Edmunds said that since COVID, the Weld County Food Bank has seen signi cant increases in demand for all the programs they o er due to the nancial hardships many communities face.

“Our Mobile Food Pantry and Farms to Families programs are no exception,” Edmunds said. “ e Mobile Food Pantry had a 42% increase in individuals utilizing the program, and Farms to Families had a 51% increase. In Fort Lupton, the mobile food pantry served over 6,400 individuals last year, which is 2,000 more than the previous year.” en in February of this year, we made all Aims locations regular distribution sites for the Farms to Families program,” Edmunds said.

Edmunds said they started partnering with Aims Arty’s Pantry in Greeley with the Farms to Families program truck in 2021.

“We did a test run at their other locations in late-2022, including in Fort Lupton.

“ e Farms to Families program that stops at Aims Community Colleges has proven to be a signicant help for the students at Aims,” Edmunds said.

To nd information about where the mobile food pantry will be in your area, visit www. https://weldfoodbank.org.