Western Slope Food Bank of the Rockies Director Sue Ellen Rodwick plans to part ways with one of the region’s most impactful food banks, after seven years at the helm of the nonprofit’s regional branch operating out of Grand Junction.
“I’m really proud of my team, I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do for this community,” she said. “It’s deepened my love for this whole region, and I’m excited to see what’s ahead. I really believe that the best is yet to come for this distribution center, and for me.”
Her time at the helm was marked by major growth, both for the food bank itself, and for the issues it’s built to combat.
Since 2018, the Western Slope branch of Food Bank of the Rockies expanded from 11 counties to 13, increased its deliveries to each of those counties, opened a new distribution center in Grand Junction, and grew from nine staff members to almost 30. It launched countless collaborations with local producers and donors, and raised its annual distribution numbers by about 25%, up to nearly 10 million meals in 2025, through everyday giveaways and a variety of rapid-response efforts.
As for the population it serves, COVID-19 spawned a wave of demand for nutrition assistance, although Rodwick said there were fewer resources available today for those who needed it, despite a higher prevalence of food insecurity than in 2020.
And while the pandemic helped slightly destigmatize food assistance, the end result is still an increasingly challenging mission for food banks like Rodwick’s.
“We don’t have as many resources as we did during COVID, so we are actually meeting a greater need now, with less food,” she said. “We are having to do a lot more fundraising … the safeguards and the safety nets that were put into place during the pandemic are not there anymore.”
The outgoing director’s leadership was shaped by her own experience. Like approximately one in eight Coloradans, Rodwick was food insecure herself before starting the job, though she didn’t explicitly realize it at the time.
And while that perspective made her naturally empathetic for those served by the organization, Rodwick said it also sparked ideas others hadn’t thought of, like efforts to connect food bank customers with other help around the community, unrelated to their nutrition.
“A lot of times, I struggled to find resources,” she said. “Realizing that we had such a power to bring people to us … we collaborate with other organizations to get the word out, on a variety of things.”
The position came with quite the learning curve, however. Rodwick said she “didn’t even know what food banking was” before taking the job.
Over the past seven years, she’s had to learn that, and countless skills necessary to keep the nonprofit operational. The director notes that she’s “still learning,” how to juggle it all, with about a week left in her position.
Many responsibilities once held by the regional director have been delegated to staff over the years as the food bank grew. Today, most of her work is conversational, as Rodwick talks to stakeholders, donors, team members, recipients and food producers, everywhere from meeting rooms to farm home doorsteps.
That personal, relationship-building element of the director’s role came naturally to Rodwick, a self-described theater kid. Slightly harder to pick up, however, was the occasional advocacy work as the food bank started hosting politician visits, and working more with state and local governments.
Rodwick said she eventually started following the advice of her father, a former board of health member, to great success.
“I learned a little bit from him, of how to sit down with someone and take the time to learn about them, learn about their priorities, and then share what we do, what our priorities are,” she said. “When you show that interest in someone — even if they’re a public official — in that person and what they’re passionate about, then, when you have the opportunity to ask, ‘Hey, would you support this?’ It’s a much easier conversation.”
Rodwick’s final day at the food bank is March 20. She isn’t sure where she’s headed next. She declined to comment on her reason for leaving the director’s position, but when asked, said it was not due to a resignation.
“It’s not what I wanted, but I’ve done a lot while I’ve been here, and it’s time for new leadership,” she said. “I think there’s leaders that are meant to carry organizations through transition, and I tend to be that kind of a person. When an organization is in a stronger, more steady place, you almost need somebody different to keep moving it forward.”
Food Bank of the Rockies representatives declined to comment on the reason for Rodwick’s departure.
Asked about the future of the nonprofit’s Western Slope branch, Press Relations Manager Joanna Wise said in an email that the group was “not able to provide specific details about what’s next for the organization” at this time, but would keep the Sentinel updated once it could share more. She and another media spokesperson at Food Bank of the Rockies declined to comment on whether a new Western Slope director would be hired to replace Rodwick.
But the current director doesn’t seem to be leaving on bad terms. In an email, Wise praised Rodwick’s many efforts over the past seven years.
“We are proud to honor and celebrate all she has helped accomplish — from spearheading the successful transition into our new Western Slope Distribution Center, to significantly growing our volunteer program, and finding innovative and efficient ways to provide nourishing food to our neighbors in need across the Western Slope,” Wise wrote. “Sue Ellen’s passion for our mission has made a true difference for our organization and the communities we serve.”
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