In Aurora, increased banking on what’s for dinner

AURORA | Pastor Kelvin Belfon’s ideas about who goes hungry have steadily evolved in his time as an associate pastor at Potter’s House Church.

“Typically, you would think it’s a guy pushing a shopping cart down the street,” Belfon said. 

But that is rarely the case. Instead, a sizable chunk of the almost 1,000 people the Potter’s House food bank feeds have jobs, cars and homes, but for whatever reason, they struggle each week to be able to eat. 

“It’s just sometimes they are working for minimum wage, and they just can’t quite make it,” he said. 

The food bank at the mega church near the Aurora-Denver border has seen a steady increase in the number of people coming through its doors in recent years. Belfon said that a couple years ago, the food bank provided groceries to about 500 people per week, but that number has surged to more than 900 each week this year. 

Christian youth volunteers from Texas help clean up a local church’s food bank June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. According to Food Bank of the Rockies, about one in seven Colorado residents are “food insecure,” meaning they don’t always know where their next meal will come from. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Christian youth volunteers from Texas help clean up a local church’s food bank June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora.This week, the growing food bank got a bit of a face lift when the Texas volunteers spent time stocking shelves and giving the food bank a fresh coat of paint. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Christian youth volunteers from Texas help clean up a local church’s food bank June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. According to Food Bank of the Rockies, about one in seven Colorado residents are “food insecure,” meaning they don’t always know where their next meal will come from. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

A youth volunteer from Texas helps clear donated food off of shelves so that they can be painted June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. According to Food Bank of the Rockies, about one in seven Colorado residents are “food insecure,” meaning they don’t always know where their next meal will come from. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Meredith Mosley and Emery Sanford (right), youth volunteers from Texas, help clear donated food off of shelves so that they can be painted June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. Craig McMullen, senior associate pastor at Potter’s House, said the food bank was especially busy last fall during the federal government shutdown. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Emery Sanford, a youth volunteer from Texas, brings an empty box to fill with donated food June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. Kelvin Belfon, an associate pastor at Potter’s, said that the food bank tries to limit the amount of food that ends up getting wasted by giving people plenty of choices about what food they get. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Emery Sanford, a youth volunteer from Texas, brings an empty box to fill with donated food June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. Kelvin Belfon, an associate pastor at Potter’s, said that the food bank tries to limit the amount of food that ends up getting wasted by giving people plenty of choices about what food they get. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Jackson Farley (right), a youth volunteer from Texas, helps clear donated food off of shelves so that they can be painted June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. When the federal government shutdown and made cut backs, the Potter’s House saw a surge in the number of people needing food. On some occasions, the food bank fed more than 1,000 people each week. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Jackson Farley (right), a youth volunteer from Texas, helps clear donated food off of shelves so that they can be painted June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. When the federal government shutdown and made cut backs, the Potter’s House saw a surge in the number of people needing food. On some occasions, the food bank fed more than 1,000 people each week. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Jackson Farley, a youth volunteer from Texas, helps clear donated food off of shelves so that they can be painted June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. When the federal government shutdown and made cut backs, the Potter’s House saw a surge in the number of people needing food. On some occasions, the food bank fed more than 1,000 people each week. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Chad Kaiser (left), a youth volunteer from Texas, helps clear donated food off of shelves so that they can be painted June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. The volunteers spent time this week stocking shelves in the food bank and giving it a fresh coat of paint. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Chad Kaiser (center), a youth volunteer from Texas, helps clear donated food off of shelves so that they can be painted June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. The volunteers spent time this week stocking shelves in the food bank and giving it a fresh coat of paint. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Rows of boxed and canned goods line the storage section of a food bank on June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. Craig McMullen, senior associate pastor at Potter’s House, said the food bank was especially busy last fall during the federal government shutdown. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Youth ministry volunteers from Texas and Kelvin Belfon, (center) an associate pastor for the local church, take a tour of The Potter’s House’s food bank on June 23 in Aurora. Belfon said that Potter’s House tries to limit food waste by making sure not to give out food that clients won’t use. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Clean grocery bags are ready to be filled with donated food June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. The church’s food bank tries to limit the amount of food that ends up getting wasted by giving people plenty of choices about what food they get. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Rev. Dr. Craig McMullen, a Senior Associate Pastor, shows youth volunteers from Texas how his church’s food bank works June 23 at The Potter’s House in Aurora. According to Food Bank of the Rockies, about one in seven Colorado residents are “food insecure,” meaning they don’t always know where their next meal will come from. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

According to Food Bank of the Rockies, about one in seven Colorado residents are “food insecure,” meaning they don’t always know where their next meal will come from, or they live on a diet that puts them at risk of nutrition ailments. Also, the poverty rate in Colorado jumped from about 9 percent in 2001 to almost 13 percent in 2012. 

Belfon said that at Potter’s House, they make it a point not to ask their clients about their financial situation or why they need food. 

“As long as they want food, that’s pretty much it,” he said. 

Belfon said the food bank tries to limit the amount of food that ends up getting wasted by giving people plenty of choices about what they get. If someone doesn’t eat pork for religious reasons, or if they have dietary restrictions, Belfon said Potter’s House makes sure not to give them groceries that they won’t use. 

“The whole thing we try to do is provide options because it prevents wasting,” he said. “We want them to leave well-stocked, with food that they want”.

Craig McMullen, senior associate pastor at Potter’s House, said the food bank was especially busy last fall during the federal government shutdown. Because facilities like the commissary and base exchanges at area military bases were closed during the fiasco, McMullen said the food bank was a last resort for some families who couldn’t rely on their typical outlets for something to eat. 

Also, McMullen said, when the federal government made some cuts last year to the federal food stamp benefit program, Potter’s House saw a surge in the number of people needing food. There was a stretch from last fall until early this year when the food bank fed more than 1,000 people each week, he said. 

This week, the growing food bank got a bit of a face lift thanks to a group of young people from a church in Texas who spent the week in the Denver area volunteering at Potter’s House and other locations around the area. 

The group of young people — about 250 in all — spent some time this week stocking shelves in the food bank and giving it a fresh coat of paint. 

Meredith Mosley, 18, part of the group from Valley Ranch Baptist Church in Coppell, Texas, said the work is particularly rewarding.

“We physically get to see the impact we are making,” she said. 

Another volunteer from Valley Ranch Baptist, Chad Kaiser, also 18, said volunteering at the food bank is nice because the volunteers know their work will directly help hungry people.

“You can see, this is going to be someone’s dinner, it’s important to them,” he said.