Food insecurity is a genuine problem in Montezuma County.
Four people who deal with that issue discussed it Thursday night at the Sunflower Theatre in Cortez. They were on a panel that spoke following the showing of the 2012 film “A Place at the Table,” a documentary about hunger in America.
A worker at the Ute Mountain Ute Social Services Center, Sharon House, said the tribe recently opened its own food pantry. It assisted 439 people from Towaoc and other area communities this month.
House also said it was a welcome event this month when the tribe opened the Nuchu Food Market so that people didn't have to drive a dozen miles to Cortez every time they needed groceries.
County social services director Kelli Hargraves said as many as 5,000 people are receiving SNAP benefits in the county.
Alix Midgly of the Good Food Collective said 60 percent of students in Montezuma County qualify for free or reduced lunches. Midgly said it gives her hope that Colorado voters passed two measures in 2025 to fund the state’s universal school meals program.
The executive director of Cortez’s Good Sam’s Food Pantry, Kirbi Foster, said many locals can’t afford to pay the retail prices at local grocery stores.
All agreed that transportation is a key issue. People in outlying areas, especially seniors, may find it difficult to even get to food pantries.
Transportation is also a problem for bringing items to those food banks, especially Towaoc.
The panelists said volunteer help is always welcome.
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.