Hunger may be right next door

CASTLE ROCK - The last time you talked with someone who needed help getting enough food on the table might be more recently than you think. Hunger isn't just in the places you'd expected. It could be right next door.

In a typical suburban neighborhood, you might run into someone just like Jane, but she wouldn't let you know it.

"It's just so hard to go to the grocery store and you see people that you might know and you don't want them to know that you need help," she said.

She won't let 9NEWS reveal her identity, even though her story is not unusual these days.

"My husband was laid off from work and things just got really tough," she said.

Jane is working full time. Her husband is picking whatever part-time work he can find, and they are still short of what they need to make ends meet.

"We're just struggling to hold onto our house and hold onto our vehicles," Jane said. "We don't want a bankruptcy."

That's why we found Jane at the Castle Rock office of the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC). The federally-funded program helps women with children under age 5 get specific, nutritious foods they can't easily afford.

"I have some clients that will not shop in a Douglas County store because they don't want to be recognized using a WIC check," program dietician Alice Kremer said.

Kremer's client load is increasing. In Douglas County, demand for WIC help increased 12 percent in the last year. Many are situations like Jane's involving lost jobs. Some are situations like Jill and Lacey's. Their husbands are medical students.

"We live off of loans, and we can't get more than what the max amount is," Jill said.

"With WIC, it allows you to get things that are healthy for your kids. So we can get fruits and vegetables, grains, cheese, eggs. All the things the kids need to be able to grow, instead of things that are cheap that we can afford, but it isn't so healthy for them," Lacey said.

Also getting WIC food help are single, working moms like Morgan. She's already cut back as much as possible.

"Don't have cable, stuff like that. There was a time when I didn't have car insurance. Was I going to get car insurance or diapers for the kids?" Morgan said.

WIC helps moms like Morgan make fewer of those tough choices.

"Like everybody else, I have car issues and daycare issues. And then something happens, like my daughter had to go to the dentist and she has to get all this work done," Morgan said.

The unexpected is to be expected in life, which doesn't always go according to plan. It's what every woman at the WIC office has learned, though she might not tell you that herself.

"I think that a lot of people in Douglas County - it was known as the richest county in the U.S. for a while - and I don't think they know that there are people here that actually need help too," Jane said.

WIC is only a supplemental program. It doesn't provide all food needs for families, so they often depend on other help such as the government food stamp program or local food banks. 9Cares Colorado Shares helps keep many of those food banks stocked. Find out how you can help by clicking the link above.

For more information on WIC, visit http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/ps/wic/