Casa de Peregrinos leaders say they are handing out less food to manage the influx
Amid the court rulings and uncertainty encroaching the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, officials at the Las Cruces-based Casa de Peregrinos food distribution center said Monday they are seeing hundreds of additional people seeking help.
In response to a court order requiring it to pay SNAP benefits, the United States Department of Agriculture said Monday in a legal brief it would pay about half of SNAP November benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, but those benefits could take months to reach recipients. The State of New Mexico announced it would pay $30 million toward food benefits, approximately 10 days worth of benefits, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said that plan would continue despite the court ruling.
Casa de Peregrinos Executive Director Lorenzo Alba told Source New Mexico that the organization’s Las Cruces distribution center typically sees 3,800 to 4,000 people each month. Numbers were up slightly in September, but he said he recorded around 4,300 to 4,400 people in October.
“We’re used to giving people 120 pounds of food. We had to scale back to about 85, 90 pounds just to be able to accommodate everybody that’s coming to our doors,” Alba said, adding that he expects the numbers to continue to increase. “We’re going to open up some extra hours and we’ve been doing that. We’ve already started doing that for federal workers on Thursdays.”
Alba said the organization’s satellite distribution center in Hatch has also seen an increase from about 400 people receiving food monthly on a regular basis to closer to 500 in October. That location also had to scale back how much food they issued to people to ensure they didn’t run out.
“I think we can handle the 500. If it goes up higher, it’s going to be more difficult. I don’t have a big staff there, so we’re going to need more volunteers for sure in that area,” he said.
Alba told Source that Casa de Peregrinos is working with partner organization Roadrunner Food Bank to plan how to ensure everyone coming to their distributions receive adequate food supply. He added that his organization is set to receive part of the $162 million in state funding approved during the recent special legislative session.
Alba said one woman who received food recently told him that if she and her disabled son were to lose their Medicaid benefits and cuts to SNAP benefits continue, she doesn’t know how they will “make it,” despite her already working full-time. Others have told Alba they worry about feeding their children, particularly with school breaks coming up.
Casa de Peregrinos is also looking ahead to Thanksgiving and its Hope for the Holidays program, which involves handing out whole turkeys and traditional sides to thousands of people during a drive-thru event later this month. Alba told Source that its goal is to distribute close to 6,500 turkeys this year throughout Doña Ana County. Distribution already started in Chaparral this week, but the main distribution event will happen on the New Mexico State University main campus on Nov. 24.
