The Food Depot Magazine 2013 by The New Mexican

Building Hope The Food Depot is working to end hunger in Northern New Mexico

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Building hope

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Building Hope puBlished april 17, 2013

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Inside 6

A message from Sherry Hooper

The face of hunger in New Mexico

12 Mission: ending hunger 14 Building hope 16 The Food Depotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s major programs 18 Raising funds with soup, pie 20 How to support The Food Depot 22 Where to find food when you need it 25 State, federal programs for the hungry

Building hope

A message from Sherry Hooper Our work at The Food Depot brings us both joy and heartache. Hunger is closer than you think. Chances are you know someone who is hungry. Every day, we at The Food Depot see people who need our help. Grandparents who have taken responsibility for their grandchildren request food because of the extra mouths they have to feed. As they share their stories, tears begin streaming down their faces — they are so proud, it’s hard for them to ask for food. But they must. We see working families struggling to put food on the table. Once they have paid their fixed expenses like rent, utilities and fuel, there is little left of their monthly budgets. How will they buy the food they need to feed their families? We see children who are eager to take Food 4 Kids backpacks filled with food home so they have something to eat over the weekend. Before they received their backpacks, they often didn’t eat between school lunches. One child shared that he was happy to get a Food 4 Kids backpack. He felt proud to help his mother feed their family. Our hearts ache that so many are still struggling. Fortunately, we also see the wonderful generosity of our community and business partners. Upon sharing the dire hunger statistics for Northern New Mexico, the first question we hear is “How can I help?” Members of our responsive community offer to volunteer their time, organize a food drive at their place of worship or business, or provide financial support of hunger-relief efforts in Northern New Mexico. Some regularly deliver the gifts of their gardens, while others may contribute what they can, down to a single dollar. Our business partners, such as local grocery stores, bakeries and farmers, offer their support by giving us food. Every day, our community demonstrates its commitment to ending hunger. We find joy in that commitment. We see the amazing passion and generosity of our partner agencies, those individuals on the front lines of hunger relief. Their staffs and volunteers work hard to prepare bags of food for families in need, offer hot meals to people who are homebound, and provide meals for our children after school. Partner agencies such as Kitchen Angels, Food for Santa Fe, Española’s St. Vincent de Paul, Taos’ St. James food pantry, Raton’s Senior Center and so many others overwhelm us with their compassion for our hungry neighbors. We find joy in their dedication. We realize it’s sometimes difficult to believe that hunger exists in Northern New Mexico. We don’t see famine or mass starvation here — terrible tragedies, but not something that affects people every day in our community. But hunger does exist here. It is likely to show itself as an undernourished child who can’t concentrate in school, a senior who routinely chooses between food and medicine, or a working family that struggles to make ends meet. Let’s come together to end the crisis of hunger. In a land of plenty, no one should go hungry. Sherry Hooper Executive Director The Food Depot

building hope

Building hope

Clyde Mueller

Food for Santa Fe volunteers prepare and distribute hundreds of bags of groceries from the loading dock at The Food Depot on Siler Road.

The face of hunger in New Mexico Santa Fe pantries make a difference By DeBorah Busemeyer

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Dawn and Steve Gurule selected food from long tables covered with proteins, produce and bread on a recent Tuesday morning at St. John’s United Methodist Bag ’n Hand Pantry. Steve started working nights washing dishes at Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino recently, but the extra food has kept them going through his unemployment. “Katelyn would love these,” Dawn said to her husband as she picked up the plastic container of croissants for their 5-year-old daughter. Steve juggled bags of carrots, orange juice and canned goods — all part of the thousands of pounds of food the pantry program provides each week to people who need support. “It means we have more money to pay bills,” said Dawn, an executive secretary at the New Mexico Department of Health. “Food has gotten really expensive. Every little bit helps.” Since 2001, the Bag ’n Hand Pantry has provided food to people twice a week as part of the mission of the church at the corner of Cordova Road and Old Pecos Trail. In the last three years, the 30

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volunteers have watched the demand for the program double. Their clients come with elderly parents, young children and their neighbors. Some are homeless. Many are working or on fixed incomes because of their health. “Our clients are really lovely, and I appreciate that these people are struggling and working their butts off,” said Laura Steward, who registers people as they get in line for food. “They are just holding on by their fingernails. The pantry is designed to get people through rough spots, and some rough spots last a long time.” The program, staffed and funded entirely by volunteers and fundraising efforts, is one of 135 that partner with The Food Depot to distribute food to people in a nine-county area of Northern New Mexico. People who go to such programs reflect the population of those hungry in New Mexico — children, elderly, rural residents and the working poor. John Goldman, 83, said he visits Bag ’n Hand every Tuesday to pick up food for a father and son who seem too embarrassed to seek help. Their rent increased so much that they barely make a living, Goldman said. “This is a wonderful resource here for people who need it,” he said. Those who work with individuals seeking food assistance say they know some people reject help or are unable to seek help because they don’t have transportation or money for gas.

Kristin Slater-Huff coordinates the city of Santa Fe’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program and places several volunteers in foodassistance programs. These volunteers are sensitive to the feelings of hungry seniors. “Seniors struggle with shame about [going hungry] — it’s embarrassing for them to need help,” she said.

Hunger studies report dire statistics: • The USDA reports that one in six Americans reported struggling with hunger in 2011. • A report by Food Research Action Center concluded in 2012 that 18 percent of New Mexican households reported not having enough money to buy the food their families needed. • New Mexico ranks seventh in the nation for the percentage of households that report having food insecurity, according to Feeding America. “I think hunger is a crisis and probably there is not enough being done about it in our country,” said Sherry Hooper, executive director of The Food Depot, one of five food banks in New Mexico.

“Closer than you think” Thousands of New Mexicans receive food stamps and other governmental assistance, but often those programs don’t provide enough to sustain families. The Food Depot provided food for nearly five million meals last year, and 47 percent went to Santa Fe County Building hope

residents in need, according to the food bank’s statistics. Often Hooper cites the phrase, “Hunger is closer than you think,” because there are people who work hard and live paycheck to paycheck until one unexpected expense — a flat tire or a doctor visit — prevents them from being able to pay all their bills. “I think that people don’t realize how close they are to hunger,” she said. Hunger in New Mexico can be hidden. No one may know that someone stopped off to grab bags of food at Bag ’n Hand before going to work or that a mother watered down her children’s milk to make it last longer. “We see images on the national news of horrifying starvation happening in other countries,” Hooper said. “That’s what we think hunger looks like, but that’s not true for our community or for our country. Hunger here means two or three families living under one roof and parents skipping meals so their kids can eat. It means there are grandparents who are raising grandchildren on their Social Security and can’t make it so they turn to a food pantry for help.” According to the New Mexico Association of Food Banks, about a third of households seeking food assistance include at least one employed adult, and only 8 percent are homeless. The Gurules needed food assistance when Steve Gurule was unemployed, even though Dawn Gurule has had a full-time job for 15 years. “In New Mexico, the biggest challenge that people face is making a living wage that allows them to pay all the bills they need to pay and have access to food for their families,” said Kathy Komoll, director of New Mexico Association of Food Banks. Often people need assistance once they can no longer work due to their age or health. Each year more Santa Fe seniors seek support through the city of Santa Fe’s home-delivery program, Meals on Wheels, and meals served at senior centers, according to Ron Vialpando, director of the city’s Senior Services Division. The city, which is the biggest financial supporter of the program, provides 140,000 home-delivered meals annually. Slater-Huff places 600 volunteers with different Santa Fe agencies, such as Food for Santa Fe. Some people seeking assistance have specific dietary needs, can no longer prepare meals by themselves and also can’t afford to buy expensive prepared meals. Others saved money for retirement that was lost in the financial crisis. Some seniors say they ran out of savings when they lost the support of their families who moved away, she said. “We have people come in who have always struggled with food scarcity and also people who have been on the other end of the scale and are now seeking assistance,” said Slater-Huff. People who live in rural areas and have low incomes have additional challenges — fewer resources and limited access to nutritious food. Many remote communities are considered “food deserts,” which means residents can’t easily get access to fresh, nutritious food. “It’s a huge issue here,” Komoll said. “There are so many counties where people have limited access to grocery stores. Even when there is a grocery store in rural areas, frequently the food costs more, so people’s food dollars don’t go as far. This is in areas where wages are low, so it’s a double whammy.” The need for food assistance can be driven by a crisis or violence. Clients at Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families come to the Santa 10

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Who is hungry? • According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17.4 million American families — almost 15 percent of U.S. households — are now food insecure. • Every week, almost 40,000 New Mexicans seek food assistance. • Thirteen percent are seniors. • Forty percent are children, and seven percent are younger than 5. • The average monthly income for an individual or family seeking food is $900 a month. • Forty-one percent report that at least one person in their house is in poor health. • Almost half of people needing assistance choose between paying for food and medicine or medical care. • About 40 percent choose between paying for food and their rent or mortgage. Source: new Mexico hunger Study by new Mexico Association of Food banks and Feeding America, 2010

Fe shelter with nothing, except maybe a couple of bags of clothes, said Christy O’Neil, interim co-executive director of the domesticviolence shelter. Esperanza buys food from The Food Depot at significantly reduced rates to feed the families who stay in the shelter. “Food, housing and clothes are all that is needed to stabilize people so they can get away from a domestic-violence situation,” O’Neil said. “All those needs can hold them back, especially when you have children. You don’t want to put your children in a situation where you can’t feed them.” The Food Depot and government-funded programs try to assist families who can’t make it on their own. At Salazar Elementary School, 97 percent of students eat free or reduced-cost lunch due to low incomes in their families. The school off of Osage Avenue provides almost 100 kids with backpacks of food each weekend through The Food Depot’s Food 4 Kids program. On Fridays, children receive backpacks filled with non-perishables such as granola bars, beef sticks and cans of tuna and lasagna. The program is one of several resources Salazar offers families who need help financially. “We are trying to not only reach the kids and their needs but also their families so the kids are productive in school,” said principal Vanessa Romero. The need for food assistance in Santa Fe and throughout New Mexico is tremendous. The generosity of New Mexicans is evident too. At St. John’s Bag ’n Hand, church members and community volunteers get to know their clients, mostly regulars who are friendly and appreciative. One man delivered a check after he announced he passed the bar and didn’t need the pantry’s services anymore. “I think our biggest thing is how we treat our clients,” said Ruth D’Arcy, who volunteers with her husband, Paul D’Arcy. “We really care about them. We know them.” She reflected on why she volunteers each Tuesday. “I feel like it’s the best thing I do all week.”

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Building hope

Mission: ending hunger By DeBorah Busemeyer Anyone who has ever shared a meal at the Salvation Army or received a lunch bag from Bienvenidos Outreach can thank The Food Depot, Northern New Mexico’s food bank. Food banks collect surplus food from food manufacturers, grocery stores and farmers. New Mexico’s five food banks distribute food to 650 charities in 33 counties that connect directly with people in need, according to the New Mexico Association of Food Banks. Each year this network serves about 238,000 New Mexicans who don’t have adequate resources to feed themselves and their children. Their goal is simple: Eliminate hunger. The Food Depot, which operates out of Santa Fe, supplies 135 agencies — about half in town and another half in the surrounding counties of Colfax, Union, Mora, Rio Arriba, Los Alamos, Taos, San Miguel and Harding. Its service area is vast — at more than 26,000 square miles, it’s larger than the state of West Virginia. Organizations that partner with The Food Depot include group homes, domestic violence and homeless shelters, youth and senior programs, emergency food pantries and soup kitchens. In 2012, The Food Depot provided 3.7 million pounds of food to these nonprofits. “We couldn’t do our work without The Food Depot,” said Ruth D’Arcy, who volunteers with St. John’s United Methodist’s Bag ’n Hand Pantry. In addition to donations contributed by community and church members, Bag ’n Hand budgets $1,450 per month for supplies it acquires from The Food Depot to provide food to about 200 households each week — although, the food bank said, the program has yet to spend this much. The pantry spends another $15,000 a year to provide a balanced, nutritional assortment of food, including turkeys and hams for Thanksgiving and fresh eggs from local suppliers. One-third of the pantry’s clients are children. No individual receiving food ever pays for it. The Food Depot raises money to cover the costs of 75 percent of the food it supplies to agencies, and it charges a “shared maintenance fee” to cover the costs of having Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, ship food to New Mexico, said The Food Depot’s executive director Sherry Hooper. That fee amounts to 16 cents a pound and is not charged on dairy, eggs, baked goods or fresh produce. Feeding America provided about 20 percent of the 2.95 million pounds of the donated/rescued food that The Food Depot received in 2012, according to the food bank’s statistics. The organization collects donations from large companies that have food that is safe to eat but not sellable because there is too much supply, labeling errors 12

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natalie guillÉn

The Food Depot delivers food to the Villa Alegre complex every week.

or new items that aren’t testing well on the market, Hooper said. That food goes to Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque, which then distributes the food to the other four food banks in New Mexico. “We hope that the shared maintenance fee encourages agencies to fundraise to support their programs,” Hooper said. “Plus it creates a responsibility — you don’t take more than you need.” In addition to donations, The Food Depot buys 8 percent of its food from wholesalers that give significant discounts to the nonprofit. The Food Depot passes the cost of these purchases on to the nonprofits it serves to continue to support the program — but doesn’t make money on any of the fees it charges, according to Hooper.

“We recognized that we weren’t always getting enough canned goods and dry goods to meet the needs of the agencies we serve, so we found wholesalers who work with a lot of food banks across the country,” she said. Another 11 percent of the food comes through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Food Assistance Program. The New Mexico Human Services Department manages the program and distributes the food from the federal government to New Mexico’s food banks. The vast majority of donations come from community members and grocery stores. Every day The Food Depot’s trucks collect thousands of pounds of extra food that grocery stores can’t sell anymore. “Food banks like The Food Depot are highly collaborative,” Hooper said. “To acquire such large amounts of food, it takes thousands of local, state and national food and financial donors. At the same time, The Food Depot works with partner agencies like food pantries and hot meal programs to reach hungry New Mexicans. All of these relationships are critical to meet the growing need in Northern New Mexico. We are extremely grateful for their commitment to ending hunger.”

Food Depot facts • The most important staples the food bank always needs are peanut butter, beans, canned meat and produce. • The food bank needs the most donations during summer months, when donations typically decrease. • The Food Depot does not provide food directly to individuals. It distributes food to 135 agencies in nine Northern New Mexico counties. Those agencies — including food pantries, shelters, children’s programs, schools and churches — give the food to people in need.

Building hope

The Food Depot’s new building at 1222 Siler Road is located behind the old Food Depot building. The new building is 16,000 square feet.

Clyde mueller

Building hope

The Food Depot is growing to meet the growing need By DeBorah Busemeyer Most building tour guides aren’t this enthusiastic. Sherry Hooper, the executive director of The Food Depot, demonstrates how pallets roll back to store additional cans of nonperishables like sweet potatoes and red beans in the spacious warehouse. Hooper pulls a yellow rope and the wall-size cooler doors open with a “whoosh.” It’s designed that way so people can open the doors while they are driving their forklifts of produce into a refrigerated space that’s seven times bigger than that of the food bank’s previous building. But Hooper’s enthusiasm isn’t about the technology — although that helps the Santa Fe nonprofit operate more efficiently. It’s about the potential the new space creates for a food bank that has been unable to meet the growing demand of the poor, mostly rural communities it serves within a 26,000 square-mile region of Northern New Mexico. The Food Depot reached its storage capacity in its previous space years ago. As fruit and vegetable donations increased, it was clear there was not enough refrigerator or freezer space. At times the nonprofit had to turn away food donations and postpone volunteer help because there was no more space for either, said Hooper. In 2008 The Food Depot’s board of directors voted to construct a new building so it could expand its operations. Since then the nonprofit has focused on raising $3 million — with $600,000 14

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remaining — then building and moving into the new 16,000-squarefoot warehouse. It is located behind the facility it previously shared with Kitchen Angels and Food for Santa Fe on Siler Road. The city of Santa Fe donated the land in a long-term lease. The construction project, “Building Hope,” is designed to meet current and future needs. “Now we feel like we have endless possibilities,” Hooper said.

Fred Santistevan moves cases of donated food into The Food Depot’s new warehouse.

“We’re going to take a step back and see how we can do more.”

Expanding services She anticipates that The Food Depot will partner with more small, rural communities with which it can arrange designated times to distribute food directly from its truck. Some of the tiny villages in the nine counties The Food Depot serves have no resources for a food pantry, so mobile pantries are a necessary source of food. Now that storage is plentiful, The Food Depot also will consider expanding its popular Food 4 Kids program. Currently 15 elementary schools receive food-filled backpacks that help nourish children over the weekend. In addition to expanding operations, The Food Depot can serve more people faster with almost triple the amount of space it had before. The food bank ships hundreds of thousands of pounds of food each week, and in the past, operations were inefficiently intermingled. One room housed volunteers, shipping, receiving, food collections and donations. Now each function is separated. Volunteers have more space to sort and repackage such staples as beans and peanut butter. Another room is available as a cleaning area to wash fresh produce like apples and oranges before filling bags for the 135 partner agencies that feed more than 78,000 people every

clyde mueller

three months. Past the cooler and freezer is a reception area for the Santa Fe nonprofits that order and pick up food. Already The Food Depot is making more appointments and seeing food leave the warehouse faster, which is always the goal. “We want this food out as quickly as we can process donations,” said Hooper, who is in her 12th year of directing The Food Depot’s operations. An education center includes a commercial kitchen where Hooper envisions nutrition and cooking classes for the agencies the food bank serves. In some instances, people don’t know how to cook some of the donated fresh produce, such as eggplant — and classes could help people learn nutritious ways to cook the donations they receive, she said. Cameras positioned throughout the kitchen will enable remote classes to meet the needs of nonprofits that can’t afford to travel to Santa Fe. “We could even do job training here,” Hooper said. “The work we do to provide food meets an immediate need, but if we could give training so people could get good jobs and become self-sufficient, then they will no longer need our services. That’s our ultimate goal — to go out of business.” Building hope

Food for Kids provides backpacks filled with nonpershisable food to 1,500 elementary-school children every week.

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‘Many helping hands’ The Food Depot’s major programs By DeBorah Busemeyer

Food 4 Kids Recognizing the need for children to have food supplies over the weekend, The Food Depot started providing backpacks filled with nonperishable food to three schools in 2002. Today, 1,500 elementary-school children receive backpacks each Friday at 15 schools in Santa Fe and surrounding areas. Pecos and Angel Fire raised money to support the backpack program in their schools — and The Food Depot is interested in expanding the popular program to other communities. At least half the students at participating schools receive free or reduced-cost meals. The exception in Santa Fe is the Wood Gormley Elementary School program, which is supported by a donor. School nurses, counselors and teachers refer students to the program. 16

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Fresh produce/healthy choices initiative In the last few years, The Food Depot has seen a shift in donations from canned goods to more fresh produce. Fresh fruits and vegetables account for about 35 percent of the food The Food Depot distributes each year. “We want to make sure we are providing the most nutritious food for people in need,” said executive director Sherry Hooper. “They are already battling so many things — heart disease, diabetes — and when they do have money to purchase produce, sometimes the produce can be more expensive.” In addition to distributing fresh produce, The Food Depot is looking into arranging healthy cooking classes in its new commercial kitchen for its 135 nonprofit clients that distribute food directly to people in need.

mobile Food Pantry Because there tends to be no place for formal food pantries in rural

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Suggested donations

Kitty leaKen

Ramirez Thomas Elementary School children from left, seated, Zitaly Gutierrez Garcia, Ashley Perez Perez and Aileen Veleta Gomez; from left, standing Annalise Leos, Lyle Dumas and Ervey Aguirre.

Northern New Mexico villages, The Food Depot started a mobile food pantry program in 2009 so people in those communities could get food when they needed it. The Food Depot arranges to distribute food directly from its truck in 15 communities that serve about 1,300 people each month, including Mosquero, Chacon, Tinaja, Springer, Wagon Mound, El Rito, Bernal, Abiquiú, Pecos, Clayton, Des Moines, Mora and Raton. Hooper said The Food Depot wants to grow the program, which will require more financial support. The food bank also is looking at how it could partner with other organizations so people could get additional services at the mobile pantry, such as health screenings and registration for food stamps.

Infant Supply Initiative The Food Depot started raising funds to buy infant supplies after receiving many requests for infant formula, baby food — and especially diapers. The items are in such demand that the food bank can’t keep them in stock. Now that The Food Depot has additional space in its warehouse, it is working with a local foundation to launch a diaper bank. People can collect and donate extra diapers from baby showers or contribute money so The Food Depot can buy diapers at a discount. “We recognize that people in need have other needs,”

Canned fruits, vegetables, meat, juice Canned and dried soups and beans Dried rice Cereal Oatmeal Peanut butter Stuffing mixes Milk (dried or evaporated) Infant formula and baby food Canned pumpkin and cranberry sauce

White flour and cornmeal Macaroni and cheese dinners Canned pasta Raisins and other dried fruits Spaghetti and tomato sauces Bar soap Toothpaste and toothbrushes Deodorant Shampoo and conditioner Toilet paper Dish soap Disposable diapers

Hooper said, “so we are looking at trying to provide personal-care items, paper goods and household products, in addition to food.”

Disaster Relief The Food Depot collects donations in anticipation of fire season to help provide needed supplies to evacuees and first responders. People can donate at The Food Depot, 1222 A Siler Road, or talk to the food bank about arranging special disaster relief drives through a business or religious organization. Needed supplies include bottled water; protein items such as peanut butter and beef jerky; handheld snacks, including granola, trail mix and dried fruit; canned meals such as soups and pasta; personal-care items such as deodorant, toothpaste/ toothbrushes, soap, hand wipes and shampoo; and paper products such as toilet paper, napkins, cups, plates and plastic utensils. The Food Depot distributes any donations not used for fire response to its nonprofit partners that feed hungry New Mexicans. Building hope

Chef Anthony Damiano’s roasted butternut squash bisque with lobster and chipotle.

Clyde Mueller

Giving made delicious Raising funds with soup, pie By DeBorah Busemeyer Early each year, people start calling The Food Depot to find out the date for the next Souper Bowl. Now in its 19th year, it is the food bank’s biggest, most popular fundraiser, bringing together about 30 restaurants, 1,300 participants and 120 volunteers. “People love it,” said The Food Depot’s executive director Sherry Hooper. “They want to sample soups, take their notes and make their votes. And in the end it helps people who are hungry in Northern New Mexico.” Over the last 12 years, The Food Depot has raised more than $350,000 through the Souper Bowl held at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. Attendees sample different kinds of soups from participating restaurants and vote on their favorites for each category — cream, savory, vegetarian and seafood. Lane Warner, executive chef at La Plazuela at La Fonda on the Plaza, has been participating since the beginning. Hooper works hard 18

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at a tough job, he said. “I think all of us on this end thank her for what she does.” Warner said La Fonda enjoys the camaraderie and competition, but one of the main reasons he participates is because people benefit from it. “I think the major goal of this whole deal is to feed people that need food and need to be helped, and that’s something that always sits in the back of your mind as a chef.” Many Santa Fe restaurants have participated and collected awards over the years, including La Plazuela, Café Pasqual, Fuego at La Posada de Santa Fe Resort and Spa, Santa Fe Bar and Grill, the Pantry Restaurant and Río Chama. Jambo Café set a record by winning the best soup award for the fourth year in a row in 2013.

how sweet it is In November 2012, The Food Depot participated in the first Pie Mania event at Builder’s Source Appliance Gallery in Santa Fe. Michele Ostrove and Lucien Bonnafoux of Wings Media Network

Keegan Crumpacker at Pie Mania 2012 — The Food Depot’s newest community fundraiser.

Wings Media netWork

Jane phillips

Ahmed Obo, the owner and executive chef of Jambo Café serves his award-winning soup during The Food Depot’s Souper Bowl XIX at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

Jambo Café set a record by winning the best soup award for the fourth year in a row in 2013 organized the event and invited The Food Depot to join in to raise money for its new building. Ostrove said they asked chefs they had worked with before to prepare a holiday pie that people could bid on in an auction and pick up at their restaurants before the Thanksgiving holiday. Santa

Fe chefs from 15 restaurants showed how to make their signature holiday pies and gave the recipes to the several hundred people who came out for the event — raising $4,500. “Everybody who was involved [in Pie Mania] was excited about it,” Ostrove said. “I think we can take it to new levels in coming years.” Building hope

Jane phillips

Help wanted

There are many ways to support The Food Depot

VOLUNTEER The Food Depot relies on volunteers. There are several ways you can help, depending on your interests and schedule.

Sorting/packing • You can help sort, inspect and package foods and household products to be distributed to partner agencies. This includes sorting and wrapping bread from bulk bread donations and repackaging dried beans, pasta or rice into family-size bags for distribution. • You can do this work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Special events: • You can help deliver posters, set up and decorate venues, sell tickets and send invitations to fun events that raise money to support The Food Depot’s work. This is occasional work. Visit www.thefooddepot. org to find out about upcoming events.

Professional services • If you need flexible volunteer times, you could provide pro-bono professional services at your convenience. • Needed services include printing, newsletter writing and design, legal consulting, video production, photography, graphic arts, computer tech support, auto maintenance and repair, plumbing and staff training.

Administrative support • You can assist with administrative duties, including filing, 20

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answering phones, stuffing envelopes and data entry. • You can do this work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. You can volunteer by yourself or with a group. If you are under 16 years of age, you need to be accompanied by an adult. To learn more, contact Viola Lujan at vlujan@thefooddepot.org or call 505-471-1633, ext. 11. You can also download The Food Depot’s brief volunteer application and volunteer handbook at www.thefooddepot.org.

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT THE FOOD DEPOT • If you have a personal garden, plant an extra row and donate the produce to The Food Depot between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, at 1222 A Siler Road. If you need help picking your produce, call The Food Depot to see if a volunteer can assist you. • Support or organize a food drive at your business, school, community organization or place of worship. • Schedule an ambassador from The Food Depot to speak to your group about hunger and the food bank’s mission to end hunger. Take a tour of The Food Depot’s new building on Siler Road. • You can donate money to The Food Depot online at www. thefooddepot.org or plan donations through wills, real estate, life insurance, mutual funds, retirement plans or donor-advised funds. • The Food Depot helps the food industry prevent waste by salvaging extra or damaged goods. If you know of a company that might want to donate food or household products, suggest it contact the food bank. • Attend community fundraisers, such as the annual Souper Bowl or Pie Mania. — deborah busemeyer

The Food Depot relies on volunteers to sort and pack food for distribution.

Jane phillips

Building hope

clyde mueller

Filling the cupboard Where to find food when you need it By DeBorah Busemeyer Information can change, so please call before visiting these agencies. If no phone number is listed, there isn’t one available.

state of New mexico • To apply for food stamps, call 505-827-1932 or look up www.hsd. state.nm.us/isd • The Women, Infants and Children program serves low-income pregnant women and their children up to age 5. WIC recipients can get food and formula for babies, nutrition education and $28 worth of Santa Fe Farmers Market coupons. Call 505-476-2602 to make an appointment. For more information, visit nmwic.org/.

santa Fe County • Bienvenidos gives out sack lunches from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday and 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; grocery boxes are available 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday and 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. People can receive either the grocery box or the sack lunch at 1511 Fifth St. Call 505-986-0583 for more information. Bring photo identification and proof of residence for grocery boxes. 22

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• Christ Lutheran Church provides a bag of food once per month per family from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays at 1701 Arroyo Chamiso (by St. Michael’s Drive and Old Pecos Trail). Call 505-983-9461 for more information. • People age 60 and older, pregnant and post-partum moms and children younger than 6 who aren’t receiving WIC are eligible for $50 worth of food commodities from 9 a.m. to noon on the third Tuesday of every month at the Santa Fe County Extension Building, 3229 Rodeo Road. For your first food pick-up, bring a picture ID, current proof of household income, a utility bill in your name and birth certificates for children. Call 505-242-6777 for more information. • Food for Santa Fe gives out one bag of perishable groceries for each adult in the car and extra items if there are children present. Bags are available from 6 to 9 a.m. — or until they run out — every Thursday at the left rear of The Food Depot building at 1222 Siler Road. • Kitchen Angels will deliver hot meals to your home if you are younger than 60, homebound and in medical crisis. Call 505-4717780 for more information. • The Salvation Army provides breakfast from 8 to 8:30 a.m. and dinner from 5 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at 525 West Alameda St. Call 505-988-5715 for more information.

Director of kitchen services and head chef Teresa Norton prepares and packages meals at Kitchen Angels in 2011.

• Santa Fe Community Services provides lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at the Resource Opportunities Center, 2801 Cerrillos Road. Another group provides lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the same location on Sundays. For more information, call 505-310-3624. • The Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute will offer its double value program in the summer of 2013. If you spend $20 in food stamps it will be matched for a total of $40 during one visit at the market. Bring your EBT card to the market’s information booth, have your EBT card scanned for whatever amount you choose, and you’ll get $1 tokens you can use to purchase groceries from the vendors. For more specific information about the program, call 505-983-7726 or visit farmersmarketinstitute.org. • St. John’s United Methodist Church Bag ’n Hand program provides a bag of food to families from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1200 Old Pecos Road. Families may participate once a week. Call 505-982-5397 for more information. • St. John the Baptist Catholic Church serves free lunch 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and provides food bags the third Friday of each month from 3 to 4 p.m. at 1301 Osage Ave. (Bring your own bag or box.) Call 505-983-5034 for more information.

natalie guillÉn

• You can pick up bags of food between 10 a.m. and noon on Wednesdays at St. Vincent De Paul, 1088 Early St. Call 505-988-4308 for more information. • Zona del Sol provides a bag of food to each family on the fourth Monday of the month between 4 and 6:15 p.m. at 6600 Jaguar Drive. Call 505-474-6859 for more information. • The Youth Shelters Street Outreach Program serves anyone 21 and younger. You can eat a meal there and take a food bag with you once a week. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, at 402 St. Francis Drive. Call 505-988-2652 for more information.

For Santa Fe Seniors • City of Santa Fe’s Senior Citizens Program provides breakfast for $1 from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Monday through Friday at Pasatiempo Senior Center (664 Alta Vista St.), Luisa Senior Center (1522 Luisa St.) and Mary Ester Gonzales Senior Center (1121 Alto St.). Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at all city senior centers and costs $1.50. • The Meals on Wheels program is available for people age 60 and older who are homebound. Call 505-955-4721 for information. Building hope

Food pantries in Northern New Mexico Colfax County • Always Loving Mankind Food Pantry makes home deliveries on Mondays to Angel Fire, Eagle Nest and Cimarron. For Cimarron, call 575-377-3769 or 575-377-6354. For Angel Fire and Eagle Nest, call 575-377-3219. • People can receive food from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month at Raton Senior Center, 440 South First St. Call 575445-3278. • Food is distributed from 9 to 10:30 a.m. the third Wednesday of the month in Maxwell at the Maxwell Senior Center, 316 Maxwell Ave. Call 575-375-2752 for information. • People can receive food from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month at the Springer Senior Center, 504 Maxwell Ave., Springer. For more information, call 575-483-5900.

Harding County • People can receive food at 10:30 a.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Harding County Community Center, 557 Wagon Mound Highway. Call 575-485-9693 for more information. • Food is distributed at 11 a.m. the fourth Tuesday of the month at the fire station on Main Street in the Village of Mosquero.

Los Alamos County • LA Cares gives out food the second Friday of the month at 2390 North Road. Emergency food boxes are also available. Call 505-6618015 to get signed up for the program.

Mora County • El Rito Presbyterian Church provides food at 9 a.m. the second Wednesday of the month at Highway 121 in Chacon. For more information, call 575-387-5708. • Saint Gertrude’s Parish Food Pantry provides food bags starting at 9 a.m. the second Wednesday of the month at 1 Church Plaza in Mora. To register for food, come by between 10 a.m. and noon the second Tuesday of the month. Call 575-387-2336 for more information. • Wagon Mound Mobile Food Pantry provides food at 11 a.m. the fourth Tuesday of the month at Santa Clara Parish Hall. Call 575-6662314 for more information.

Rio Arriba County • Interfaith LEAP provides food from 12:30 to 2 p.m. the third Thursday of the month at the John Hyson Center, near the intersection of Highways 76 and 520. For more information, call 505351-2163. • Knights of Columbus, on Highway 286 in Arroyo Seco, provides food when available. Call 505-753-4544 to make an appointment. • Saint Vincent de Paul provides food at 11 a.m. the third Saturday of the month at 908 Calle Rosario in Española. Call 505-753-4225 for emergency boxes. • San Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen provides a free lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at 171 Jonathan in Española. Call 505-753-4956 for more information. • Victory Faith Church of the Foursquare Gospel, 328 Angel Duran Drive in Española, provides food when available. For more information, call 505-747-0039. • People can receive food at about 10 a.m. the third Thursday of the 24

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month in the Joe Ferran Gym across from Bode’s General Store in Abiquiú. • Bernal Community Center provides food assistance from 4 to 6 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month at County Road B28-A. Call 575-4212818 for more information. • People can receive food starting at 11 a.m. the third Thursday of the month at the El Rito Catholic Parish Hall. For more information, call 575-581-9115. • Food is distributed from noon to 3 p.m. the third Thursday of the month at the Volunteer Fire Station on State Road 414 in Ojo Caliente. Call 575-581-9115 for more information. • People can receive food from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. the third Thursday of the month at the Volunteer Fire Station on Forest Road 106 in Vallecitos. For more information, call 575-582-0052.

San Miguel County • Las Vegas Community Soup Kitchen provides meals from 1 to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and 12 to 12:30 p.m. Thursday at First United Methodist Church, 715 National St. Emergency food boxes are available to the neediest at 12:15 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month. Call 505-425-7283 for more information. • Samaritan House provides food assistance from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the second and fifth Wednesdays of the month at 220 Bernalillo St. Call 505-454-1390 for more information. • The Salvation Army in Las Vegas provides assistance from 9 a.m. to noon the first and fourth Wednesday of the month at 717 Douglas Ave. For more information, call 505-425-8083. • People can receive food at 10 a.m. the second Tuesday of the month at Griego’s Market on Highway 50 in Pecos. Call 505-757-6555 for more information. • Food is distributed at 8 a.m. every third Saturday of the month at El Valle de Cristo Church on Caruco Road in Ribera. For more information, call Joseph at 505-470-2053.

Union County • People can receive food from 2 to 5 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of the month and from 9 to noon — or until the food is gone — the fourth Wednesday of the month at the Clayton Housing Authority, 200 Aspen St. Call Elsie at 575-207-5033 for more information. • Food is distributed from noon to 3 p.m. the third Thursday of the month at M&M Inn, 734 Broadway in Des Moines. Call Sheron at 575447-3851 for information before going, or for emergency assistance.

State and federal programs to feed the hungry New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department reimburses organizations for providing nutritious food to children whose household incomes are low. Visit www.cyfd.org for more information.

The Summer Food Service Program This is a federally funded program that helps address the gap in children’s summertime nutritional needs. The program reimburses statewide organizations that provide nutritious meals to New Mexico’s children when school is not in session. The meals, which must follow U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutritional standards, are free for the children. More than 600 statewide meal sites include such agencies as Boys and Girls clubs and Head Start programs. The program runs from June 3, 2013 to July 26, 2013. For more information, call 1-800-EAT-COOL (328-2665).

Child and Adult Care Food Program Through this federally funded program, the state reimburses programs for providing nutritious meals and snacks to children who live in low-income families. This includes after-school programs, emergency shelters, child-care centers and adult day-care centers.

Nutrition Education Training

Homeless Meals

CYFD staff provides nutrition education and training to help childcare providers meet minimum standards for participating in food programs and to improve the quality of meals served to children. This nutrition education is unique to New Mexico, according to state officials. It helps teach skills and healthy habits. For more information on CYFD’s Family Nutrition program, please call (505) 841-4856 or 505-827-7893.

This program provides nutritious meals for homeless people at shelters and soup kitchens. In 2013, the Human Services Department will provide about $193,500 in state funding to six agencies in New Mexico that feed people who are homeless. Santa Fe agencies that receive the state funding are Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families and St. Elizabeth’s Shelter.

Women, Infant and Children (WIC) Program

Also known as food stamps or SNAP, this program helps families and single people with low or no income buy nutritious food at grocery stores and farmers markets through a debit-card system. One out of five New Mexicans received these benefits in 2012. Additional funds through SNAP are available for people who are elderly or have disabilities. Call 1-800-432-6217, and press 4 when you hear the recording.

Managed by the New Mexico Department of Health, WIC provides nutrition education and supplemental food and formula to pregnant and post-partum women and their children up to age 5. The federally funded program is for low-income families. For more information, visit www.nmwic.org or call 505-476-2202 in Santa Fe. The New Mexico Human Services Department also manages state and federally funded programs that help hungry people get food in New Mexico. Visit http://www.hsd.state.nm.us/ for more information.

Emergency Food Assistance This program distributes food from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help feed people who earn 185 percent or less of the federal poverty level — $21,256 for a single person and $43,567 for a family of four. The state gave almost $2.8 million in federal funds to five regional food banks that serve all of New Mexico’s 33 counties in 2012. The money is distributed according to the poverty and unemployment data in the counties the food banks serve. Those food banks, which include The Food Depot in Santa Fe, provided about 45,600 people with food each month last fiscal year. For more information, call the Food and Nutrition Services Bureau at 505-841-2693.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

USDA Foods Distribution Previously known as Commodities, this program is providing New Mexico with about $9.2 million in 2013 to distribute among 89 school districts, 34 Bureau of Indian Education schools and 32 residential centers and private and charter schools. This money allows schools to provide free or reduced-cost breakfast and lunch to students whose families earn low incomes. The program provides about 138,100 breakfasts and 211,350 lunches every day in New Mexico. Families that earn up to 130 percent of federal poverty level ($30,615 for family of four) are eligible for a free lunch. A reduced-cost lunch is available for families who earn up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level ($43,567 for family of four). For more information, call 505-841-2625 or your local school district. —deBorah Busemeyer

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