Attorney general's office provides $3M to food access and diaper programs to meet significant need statewide
Making ends meet this holiday season $3 million in funding will go to local food banks, pantries, organizations, and diaper programs that Coloradans rely on for basic needs.
This was a result of a settlement Attorney General Phil Weiser reached with Walmart over the company's failure to ensure the price customers paid for its products matched the price on the shelves.
Under the settlement, those funds must support local food pantries and other programs that low-income families lean on for food and other necessities.
Organizations like WeeCycle and We Don't Waste fit that category and say this grant is super helpful, especially during the holiday season.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser paid a visit to the facility and awarded a grant of $50,000 to the organization that for more than a decade has been recovering quality food from the food industry and delivering to nonprofits, shelters, and families in need.
"At every single town hall I hear about food insecurity, that people are making choices on what can they buy because they're struggling to make ends meet," said Weiser.
According to the founder and executive director of We Don't Waste, Arlan Preblud, the need has grown since the pandemic and at his organization, the demand has risen to 65%.
"They're all impacted by inflation, snap benefits reduction, and difficulty in finding jobs, that'll help us secure more food, more capacity for individuals in the community who rely on us to provide them with food, especially this holiday season," said Preblud.
Weiser says this settlement with Walmart aims to support organizations that are seeing that need firsthand.
"An estimated one in three Coloradans is struggling with food insecurity, this challenge is real and it's important we do all we can to meet it," said Weiser.
Diaper programs like WeeCycle are also getting that help, with their need nearly doubling due to inflation affecting the price of formula and diapers, according to Morgan Seibel, the executive director.
"We were serving just over a thousand families a week at the end of last year and now we are over just 2,000 families," said Seibel.
Through an interagency agreement, the Colorado Department of Law will transfer $2.5 million to the Colorado Department of Human Services to provide additional funding to their existing network, with $2 million directed to statewide food bank and pantry partners, and $500,000 to diaper programs.
For the remaining $500,000, grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded to 10 organizations focusing on areas with limited food access or targeting the barriers populations face in accessing food.
This as a result of Walmart's pricing system failing to pass price inspections from the state agriculture department officials last year, which prompted action from the attorney general's office.
