After shutdown disrupted SNAP, donors help Las Cruces food pantry

LAS CRUCES — Southern New Mexico’s largest food pantry, operating locations in Las Cruces and Hatch, is keeping up with a growing need for its service. This week, it announced the arrival of some financial help.

The first came in the form of a $50,000 challenge grant, in which a benefactor matches donations up to a set amount, from the Santa Fe-based Thornburg Foundation. The foundation, founded in 1999, contributes to nonprofits engaged in community issues, including education, water, agriculture and housing, among other matters.

“It could not have come at a better time,” Casa de Peregrinos Executive Director Lorenzo Alba said. “We have seen an overwhelming demand for help during the last few weeks, and we know this is only the beginning.”

The recent federal government shutdown from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12 disrupted the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, which serves roughly 42 million Americans, including 460,000 New Mexicans, or 21% of the state population.

Casa de Peregrinos reported food distributions at its Las Cruces pantry rose from a monthly average of 3,800 to 4,000 to a peak of 5,000 during the shutdown, in addition to baskets of food distributed through mobile pantries and the Hatch location.

Last year, Casa de Peregrinos reported serving 39,000 households in 2024 with more than 7.4 million pounds of food distributed.

”We don’t believe the food assistance crisis ends with the reopening of the federal government,” Thornburg Foundation President Allan Oliver said in a news release, saying the disruption in SNAP intensified food insecurity for New Mexico residents, including children and military veterans.

”We hope that our series of matching grants to Casa de Peregrinos Emergency Food Program, Roadrunner Food Bank, and Santa Fe Food Depot will help bring attention to the rising need for emergency food assistance and might encourage New Mexicans to increase their contributions of money, time, or food to their local food pantry,” Oliver said.

On Wednesday, Casa de Peregrinos announced a pop-up food distribution event at the Sunland Park Sports Complex, 4700 McNutt Road, beginning 9 a.m. on Friday, with over 500 boxes of food available, with support from the developer behind Project Jupiter, the data center complex under construction in Santa Teresa.

Developer BorderPlex Digital Assets is supporting the organization with a $50,000 contribution, Alba said, which would support similar pop-up food distributions. “In the southern part of the county (the) need is vast and this will certainly add some relief.”

BorderPlex Digital Assets did not respond to queries from the Journal.

Casa de Peregrinos is also set to begin construction of a permanent pantry in Sunland Park, after the city received a state grant to complete funding for the project. City officials anticipate the project to be completed next fall.