Hunger in Larimer County

More than 50% of the individuals served at our food pantry, Food Share, are either children or the elderly. The fastest growing segment of the hungry is the working poor. Low wage jobs, lack of health insurance and high housing costs contribute dramatically to the demand for food from our warehouse.

• The average monthly income of our Food Share clients is just over $900/month.
• On average, our clients seek food assistance 3 times each month.
• Among households with children younger than age 18, 38% are single parents.
• 75% of client households in Food Share are living below the poverty line.
• 32% of adult clients report they cut the size of meals or skipped meals because there wasn’t enough money for food in the previous twelve months.

In 2011:

• Every 25 seconds that we were open in 2011, our Food Share pantries (in Fort Collins and Loveland) were providing fresh food to individuals in need.
• One out of every 10 Larimer County residents accessed food from our Food Share pantries in 2011.
• Nearly 30,000 individuals were served through the FBLC Food Share direct service pantry locations in Fort Collins and Loveland.
• 70,174 Kids Cafe meals were served to kids in need at 7 area locations.
• 15,427 backpacks were filled with nutritious food and distributed to local students needing assistance over the weekend and school breaks.
• Over 70 schools participated in our Kids Link snack program, which we provided 35,501 snacks to students in Larimer County.
• 8 million pounds of food was distributed to Larimer County residents in need, which is valued at $9.3 million.
• The food bank provided more than 1.4 million pounds of food to partner agencies, saving these organizations $2.3 million in food expenses to utilize instead for program missions.

Other resources for hunger and poverty facts:

Larimer County Compass
Feeding America
USDA

FRAC - Food Research and Action Center