02/03/2026
Hunger Action Update submitted by Linda Dixon
The Hunger Action Committee hosted Audrey Apodaca, director of Family Promise, at our last meeting. Great things are happening at Family Promise. Audrey gave us her background and some facts about Family Promise.
• Audrey was born and raised in Cheyenne. She has worked with non-profits for 10 years. She will be soon hiring a case worker to assist in her workload.
• Family Promise (FP) is a nation-wide organization that helps prevent and end homelessness for families with minor children as well as providing emergency relief for families outside of the shelter.
• Their funding comes from grants, donations, and fundraisers. Highlands does provide financial support for FP and gift cards for meals for families in the shelter.
• In addition to Natalie House, which houses three families, they have a four-family unit for transitional housing (up to 4 years) and a home on Ave C that will be refurbished into their office space and more transitional housing. The lot behind the Ave. C home was purchased with ARPA funds from the Biden Administration and plans are to build three 8-plex units for transitional housing.
• Highlands provided mouthwash for their Point in Time event, a national count of homeless individuals that took place in January of this year.
• FP does follow up on their residents and provides support and resources after a family has left the program.
A reminder that the Matthew 25 box is a continuing ministry in which we collect needed garments for homeless individuals. Currently the need is long underwear. We take this to the Just Caring lunches, being held at the AME church. Thank you, Sally Meeker, for delivering these items.
I attended a Food Insecurity meeting held at Needs, Inc. in January. Two state senators and two representatives attended the meeting. A variety of groups shared their information. It was quite enlightening regarding Food Insecurity in Wyoming. Some basic facts are listed below.
• In Laramie County, 15 % of the population is food insecure.
• In Wyoming, 1 in 6 people and 1 in 5 children experience food security
• The Food Bank of Wyoming is advocating for 4 priorities with the legislature:
1. SNAP in Wyoming - full funding (this passed the Joint Appropriations Committee).
2. HB 0007-SNAP waiver request - they are asking that this bill be eliminated - it causes more harm than good as it eliminates healthy foods (such as spices, possibly flour and oil, for example)
3. Funding for SNAP Education (SNAP-Ed) Centsible Nutrition has been cut from 25 workers across the state to 7. They are asking the state to re-fund the program.
4. Sun Bucks (Summer EBT) They are asking for a 50/50 federal/state funding for summer supplemental
funds for students.
Our next meeting will be Friday, Feb. 13, on Zoom at 9:00 am. Our speakers will be Jackie White, our Wind River Indian Reservation liaison with the Wyoming Food Bank, and Todd Begay, the new director of the Sweet Grass Food Lodge. Please contact me at [email protected] if you would like to attend.
