COLORADO SPRINGS — As the holiday season approaches, many of us are making important decisions about what will land on our Thanksgiving tables. But for some families, these decisions are more complicated, especially if there isn’t enough money to buy food initially.

Unfortunately, for thousands of Coloradans, this struggle has been made worse by the theft of SNAP benefits.

MORE | Increase in number of stolen SNAP benefits reported to Colorado Department of Human Services

“They make fun of people who get food stamps and welfare and stuff like that, but I’m a great working example and I’m still entitled to benefits because I’m subject to a certain income requirement,” Colorado Springs said. resident Brittany Thompson.

Thompson and her family are among hundreds of people in El Paso County whose SNAP benefits have been stolen this year.

“I didn’t know food stamps could be stolen. This is new to me,” said the mother of three.

She was shocked to find just $4 on her benefits card just before she and her family went shopping in October.

“(For this) Thousands of people who this has happened to and they’re not telling people about it because apparently it’s been happening for months? No one has told me anything,” she said. “You can mail me letters every month or every three months to update my affairs. You can put the notifications in the app every time we need to do our reassessments, but you can’t notify us when thousands or even millions of dollars have been stolen by the State of Colorado? »

THE Colorado Department of Human Services reports receiving 4,468 reports of stolen SNAP benefits statewide in September 2024.

The EDS details the number of reports this year:

• 1,021 from January to March 2024
• 1,421 from April to June 2024
• 2,206 from July to September 2024

She contacted a representative from the Department of Human Services office after noticing the missing benefits on her account, but was disappointed with their response.
“No one asked me in this office, ‘Are you and your family okay this month?’ That doesn’t mean it’s their responsibility, but if you know I’m on benefits, you should be obligated to ask, “Hey, is your family going to be okay this month?” In the meantime, here is a list. They have lists of resources that they could give us that they haven’t given us,” Thompson said.

So she turned to social media for advice and support.

“On Facebook, I had more resources under my post in the local group than I had from DHS,” she said.

Thompson said her online community and her job at Colorado Springs meat market, Ranch Foods Direct, have been a lifeline for her and her family during this difficult time.

“I know that in an emergency, my boss is great. They’re going to make sure my family is taken care of,” she said. “I think of people who were in a very difficult situation because they didn’t have resources like mine. I mean, it’s almost the holidays. It’s not the best time to do this to people.

DHS says that as of September 2024, 460 reports of stolen benefits came from neighbors in El Paso County and 850 reports came from Pueblo County this year.

These numbers leave questions for those most affected.

“What are you actively doing to prevent a card from being copied? How have our EBT cards been copied in other states? When this is explained to me, perhaps I will be able to handle it better.

Some tips to prevent your benefits from being stolen, according to DHS.

• Freeze your EBT card to stop new purchases by logging into the ebtEDGE mobile app or cardholder portal
• Change your PIN often to avoid fraudulent charges
• Avoid simple PIN codes
• Do not share your PIN or card number with others
• Report any suspicious activity immediately

Unaffiliated voters accounted for 46% of all ballots cast in El Paso County

As of Wednesday evening, active voter turnout in El Paso County was 78% and is expected to increase as election workers continue to process ballots.

Unaffiliated voters cast 46% of all ballots in El Paso County

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