DENVER — In a bustling kitchen at Work Options, Denverites chop vegetables, prepare meals, and load trays headed for the city’s micro-communities — small housing sites for people experiencing homelessness. But for the 25 students currently enrolled in the nonprofit’s year-round culinary training program, the meals they prepare for others stand in stark contrast to what they can prepare for themselves.
“It’s a really ironic thing that we are providing meals for our folks who are experiencing homelessness,” said Brittany Jones, Work Options’ program and recruitment manager. “But our students… when they leave this place, they have to figure out what they’re going to eat after they leave our program.”
While Work Options provides its adult students with lunch and breakfast during the week, Jones said 100% of students in the program either receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)or have applied for them. Those benefits, which help students buy groceries when they’re not eating at Work Options, are currently frozen amid the federal government shutdown…