Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced a new food task force on Thursday to help residents who might have a difficult time accessing food in the coming weeks.

Just days before benefits from the federal Supplemental Nutritional Awareness Program (SNAP) — also known as food stamps — are set to expire this Saturday, the mayor and other city officials gathered in the Denver Inner City Parish recreation center to announce the creation of the Food Assistance Task Force.

Its goal is to assist residents of all 11 Denver council districts if or when the federal benefits run dry, officials said.

“This is the moment where it matters most to say that when times are toughest, Denver pulls together,” Johnston said. “We need everyone to step up and chip in and lend a hand.”

Johnston estimated that about 100,000 Denverites are at risk of losing their food benefits on Saturday, with 30-50% of them being children.

The task force will create ways for residents to help with the food assistance effort by donating money, food or time at pantries and banks in each district. Johnston also said that the denvergov.org/food webpage will list all available food pantries with capacity and any businesses helping with the effort, as well as other resources.

“I am a product of the SNAP program when I was a kid. I’m the youngest of seven to a single mother, and we were sustained by food assistance,” said City Councilman Darrel Watson, who Johnston introduced as the co-chair of the task force, at the event. “This moment that we face together weighs heavy on my heart.”

The following community centers in each district will have food support for those in need, Watson said:

• District 1: Aztlan Recreation Center, 4435 Navajo St. 720-865-4380
• District 2: College View Recreation Center, 2525 S. Decatur St. 720-865-5650
• District 3: Rude Recreation Center, 2855 W. Holden Place. 720-865-0570
• District 4: Eisenhower Recreation Center, 4300 E Dartmouth Ave. 720-865-0730
• District 5: Montclair Recreation Center, 729 Ulster Way. 720-865-0560
• District 6: Cook Park Recreation Center, 7100 Cherry Creek South Dr. 720-865-0610
• District 7: Athmar Recreation Center, 2680 W Mexico Ave. 720-865-2180
• District 8: Hiawatha Davis Jr. Recreation Center, 3334 Holly St. 720-865-0590
• District 9: Glenarm Recreation Center, 2800 Glenarm Place. 720-865-3380
• District 10: Carla Madison Recreation Center, 2401 E. Colfax Ave. 720-865-5580
• District 11: Green Valley Ranch Recreation Center, 4890 Argonne Way. 720-865-4370

Denver’s effort to assist residents with supplemental food is part of a larger scramble by the state in the wake of the federal shutdown.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and their respective allies, have also blamed each other for SNAP benefits going away on Nov. 1.

In a statement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said funding for SNAP benefits will run out.

“Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01,” the agency said in a notice. “We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”

The program will cost $8 billion in November alone.

Democrats and other groups, meanwhile, insisted that $6 billion is available in a contingency fund to pay for the program. They said the USDA should tap into this fund, arguing it is obligated to use the contingency funding.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities also said that the Trump administration should use a discretionary authority it already deployed to transfer funds into the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) — or tap into any legal authority — to fund SNAP.

In Colorado, the state Joint Budget Committee approved two emergency requests by Gov. Jared Polis for $10 million in emergency funding for food banks and pantries. The committee also approved extending up to $7.5 million in previously approved funding for WIC — which supports food access to nearly 100,000 women and children throughout the state — through November.

“The JBC’s approval of an additional $10 million to food banks and pantries, plus an extension of funding for WIC, was a no-brainer,” said committee member Judy Amabile, in the release. “We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with disabilities who have lost their lifeline to afford groceries this month because of chaos in Washington. Regardless of your circumstance, everyone should have the basic right to feed themselves and their families.”

Under the approved plan, the emergency funding will be released on three installments if SNAP funding remains delayed — on Nov. 1, Nov. 15 and Dec. 1, according to authorities. The WIC extension will allow the state to continue providing food, breastfeeding support and other local services to families in the program.

The SNAP program provides grocery benefits to more than 600,000 Coloradans across 330,000 households, according to state data. It distributes about $120 million in federal food access resources each month to grocers, farmers and other workers statewide.