Feeding the Golden Years

In Colorado, 7.5% of older adults face hunger, forcing them to choose between purchasing groceries or paying other expenses.

After a lifetime of working, many older adults who looked forward to their golden years now find themselves worrying about their next meal. In fact, seniors being hungry is a nationwide epidemic. Nearly one in six seniors in America faces hunger.

Older adult hunger is so widespread that AARP reports that seniors face a healthcare bill of more than $130 billion annually due to medical issues stemming from hunger. Adequate nutrition is vital in helping seniors stay independent and healthy. Research shows that a lack of food contributes to chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and depression. The relationship between hunger and health can be a vicious cycle. As seniors living on limited and fixed incomes spend more on health care, they have even less to spend on food.

“When we retired, I thought we would have a good life. Then my husband died. My medical bills got higher, and I had trouble making ends meet. The food I receive from Community Table really helps me get by.” - Rita

At Community Table, we’re working hard to fight senior hunger. In 2022, 30% of the people who ‘shopped’ in our pantry were 60 years or older. We know this percentage will only increase as the next largest cohort of people we serve is the 51 – 59 age bracket. That group makes up 18% of those who use our services.

As more and more older adults visit our pantry, we know we need to do more, especially for those who lack mobility and transportation. That’s why we’re expanding

New Community Partnerships

We’ve “teamed up” to better help those we help. We don’t believe in recreating the wheel or duplicating programs and services, so whenever possible, we partner with other organizations doing good in the community.

our mobile pantry program and introducing a new home delivery service. We designed our mobile pantry program to bring food to outlying areas, but it has had the most impact on senior living communities. In 2022, this service provided nearly 60,000 pounds of food to 2,000 older and disabled adult families living at senior complexes in Arvada and Wheat Ridge. Based on this success, we’re expanding our mobile pantry to senior living communities in Westminster, where we’ll provide an additional 1,000 boxes of food during the coming year.

Our mobile pantry program is a good solution for those living in community settings, but it doesn’t help disabled and older adults living independently. To better serve this population, we’re launching a home delivery service using DoorDash drivers. Project DASH is DoorDash for government and nonprofits. Since its launch in 2018, Project DASH has helped deliver more than 15 million meals across the US. We’ve been using Project DASH to deliver healthcare and food “pharmacy” boxes for a local hospital, so we know it’s a good solution to deliver food to homes safely, conveniently and cost-effectively.

Know someone who could benefit from home delivery? Please have them call 720-437-6399 for more information.

Dental Care

We’ve teamed up with No Smile Left Behind to offer onsite dental care. Their state-of-the-art mobile dental office is capable of meeting the comprehensive treatment needs of patients right where they happen to be.

Shower and Laundry Services

We’ve partnered with Bayaud Enterprises to provide FREE laundry and shower services. Their mobile units provide a safe and private environment to shower and wash clothes. As part of the shower program, participants receive new underwear, socks and toiletries. We provide detergent, bleach, and dryer sheets for those needing laundry services.

Motor Vehicle Services

Many of the folks we help lack the identification they need to access essential programs and services, so we’ve connected with DMV2GO to provide motor vehicle services in our parking lot. DMV2GO is the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles program on wheels that makes it easier for people to access services by bringing the DMV to them. Services Include issuing new Colorado identification cards, driver’s licenses and more.

Job Training and Support

Through our partnership with Goodwill Colorado, we connect people to the ReHire program to develop the skills needed to find a job and succeed in the workplace. “The ReHire Program helped me to move past homelessness and into my own apartment. I have a job now and have learned that anything is possible. I have hope now for my future,” explains Theresa, a formerly homeless veteran.