Sara Wilson

(Colorado Newsline) Food banks in Colorado are preparing to respond to a sudden increase in need this weekend as federal food benefits pause due to the government shutdown.

About 600,000 Coloradans receive money for groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which amounts to about $120 million dollars in benefit money flowing through the state’s grocery stores and farmers markets each month. But the November payments will not come at their usual time — if at all — as the federal government shutdown approaches the one-month mark.

Food banks and their partners in Colorado are getting ready for an influx of people looking to their services instead.

“We know a tsunami is coming. We just don’t know how high the wave is, and so we’re trying to brace

See Full Page