Holiday Demand Triples Visits at a New Mexico Food Pantry as Deliveries Shrink
The holiday season is the busiest time of year for food pantries, and in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, the pantry at First Baptist Church has seen client visits nearly triple — while the food it receives has fallen by roughly half.
Ministry director Cindy Dunnington said she could easily get 3,000 pounds of food a week from Roadrunner Food Bank in a good month. “Lately it’s been more like 1,000-1,500 pounds,” she said. “Sometimes I have to call them and say, ‘Do you have any frozen food?’ And sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t.”
Roadrunner, the largest hunger relief organisation in New Mexico, expects to serve 22,000 more households than this time last year, its communications director Dianna Sanchez said. St. Felix Pantry, which has faced shortfalls for months, is asking for food drive support and about 10 more regular volunteers a month.
Little Rock’s food charities plan all year for the same holiday surge. The New Mexico figures are a useful early read on the season: demand is not inching up, it is multiplying — and pantries are meeting it with smaller deliveries.
Source: Rio Rancho and New Mexico food pantries face high holiday demand — Duke City Wire (dukecitywire.com)
