Highlights:
- 17% of Coloradans skipped meals in the past year due to cost.
- Broomfield FISH demand jumped 124% between 2019 and 2025.
- 31% of Coloradans worry about affording food in the coming year.
The pantry needs more than canned goods. It needs a community that understands this is no longer an emergency it is the new normal.
BROOMFIELD, Colo. The shelves at Broomfield FISH look different than they did a few years ago. They are emptier by closing time, and the line of neighbors waiting to shop moves slower.
I spent Tuesday morning at the pantry’s marketplace on Garden Center, watching families fill carts with produce, bread, and dairy. The numbers behind what I saw are staggering. A new statewide poll from the Colorado Health Foundation found that 17% of Coloradans nearly one in five reported skipping meals in the past year because they could not afford food. Here in Broomfield, the demand has become a permanent crisis rather than a temporary spike.
Broomfield FISH served 7,100 individuals in 2019. By 2025, that number had exploded to 15,910, a 124% increase. Walking through the facility, it is clear the infrastructure is straining. The city is now using federal funds to modernize the pantry just to handle the volume.
Why is this happening? The answers I heard were consistent: housing costs and the end of pandemic-era safety nets. FISH participants often spend more than 70% of their monthly income on housing, leaving almost nothing for groceries. When a rent payment consumes three-quarters of a paycheck, a $20 cut to SNAP benefits isn’t an inconvenience; it is the difference between dinner and an empty fridge.
What struck me most was who was shopping. These are not just unhoused individuals. They are working families, seniors on fixed incomes, and parents who have jobs but cannot keep up with grocery inflation. As one volunteer told me, “Everyone needs help at some point.”
