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To help feed students and their families during the federal government shutdown, the foundation for Denver Public Schools has restarted a fundraising effort it began during the pandemic.
Back in 2020, the Food Security Fund paid for grab-and-go meal bags prepared by district staff and handed out to families at locations across the city while schools were shuttered because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Now, the Denver Public Schools Foundation is using the fund to buy grocery gift cards for families affected by the delays in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, payments and to help stock school food pantries, which have reportedly seen an uptick in visitors.
More than 600,000 Coloradans use SNAP benefits to buy food. The Department of Agriculture halted funding for the program on Nov. 1 because of the government shutdown.
Conflicting and fast-moving court rulings mean the vast majority of SNAP recipients haven’t gotten their full benefits this month.
“Luckily, kids are still receiving breakfast and lunch at school, but we know families are food insecure,” said Sara Hazel, the president and CEO of the Denver Public Schools Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises money for the 89,000-student district. “We are hearing from schools … that parents are just asking the front desk, ‘What resources do you have?’”
So many schools are asking for help that the foundation can’t fully fund every request, leaders said. Since reactivating the Food Security Fund on Oct. 31, the foundation has given more than $100,000 to DPS schools and the district’s six community hubs, which run food pantries in addition to other services, said foundation spokesperson Ashley Muramoto.
But the foundation has gotten more than $200,000 worth of requests, Muramoto said — and they keep coming, even as some federal food benefits are starting to trickle in.
About 32,000 Coloradans — or 5% of recipients — got their full SNAP benefits this past weekend before new guidance put a stop to it, according to Gov. Jared Polis’ office. The state was working on Monday to deliver partial benefits, even as the Trump administration again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to keep full payments frozen.
On Monday, the Senate passed a bill that would reopen the government; that measure now must be approved by the House.
In the meantime, the foundation is hoping to fill some of the gap left by the delayed SNAP distribution.
“We’ll keep the fund open as long as it’s needed,” Hazel said.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
Melanie Asmar 2025-11-11 03:59:30
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