(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Food to Power, along with community-led Southeast Food Coalition and RISE Southeast, hosted a community meeting on Thursday, July 13 in Panorama Park to discuss the temporary closure of King Soopers on South Academy Boulevard.

The King Soopers closed on Tuesday, June 20, because of reports of asbestos.

“All of us at King Soopers are struggling mentally,” said Loretta Guy, a King Soopers employee.

The absence of a store in southeastern Colorado Springs has presented some problems for people living in the area.

“We all were already really short on food access points in this community,” said Jessi Bustamante, director of communications for Food to Power. “So, the King Soopers closure has escalated this into a much more stressful situation.”

In southeastern Colorado Springs, there is a Walmart Neighborhood Market and a Safeway on Murray Boulevard, so even with the King Soopers on South Academy Boulevard, there weren’t many options.

“You don’t have to know the specific ratios and numbers from the FDA to know that that’s not enough,” Bustamante said.

So now with the King Soopers closed, Bustamante said it’s made the situation far more noticeable.

“I went to the Walmart a week after the closure. It was about 8 o’clock,” said Bustamante. “And a lot of the produce section was bare, the meat was nearly empty, a lot of the milk was gone. And I asked an employee about it and I was like, ‘Hey, I don’t normally shop here. Is it always like this around eight?’ He said, ‘It’s gotten a lot worse since the King Soopers closure.'”

For the townhall, Food to Power has generated a list of potential solutions being investigated, but wanted to invite the community’s voice to be centered in the process.

“This is not new to us,” said Yolanda Avila, City Councilmember for District 4. “But, we know how to come together and listen to each other and figure out how we can support one another.”

State Senator Tony Exum (D-CO), said he came down to listen to the community, while also having a personal stake in the scenario.

“I’m here to hear what the people have to say,” Exum said. “I shop there all the time. I know a lot of the employees.”

The community meeting putting forth several solutions which would help the most and others that might be missing.

“We’re talking about — do we want to continue the free mobile markets?” Bustamante said. “Is that helpful? Would people be interested in the idea of a community fridge?”

The townhall also looked at more long-term solutions to navigate the apartheid, or food desert.

“We need more food access points,” Bustamante stressed. “Whether that’s corporate grocery stores, whether that’s neighborhood markets, whether that’s a nonprofit. There’s just, there’s a lot of options out there. But bottom line, we need more food access points.”