‘Pop-up’ food give-away in Santa Teresa helps 800 families

Volunteers and staff give free, fresh produce to residents and families in a drive-through style food distribution meant to help alleviate hunger in Santa Teresa, Sunland Park and nearby communities. (Juan Corral/ SNMJC)

SANTA TERESA — Food insecurity in New Mexico has continued to prove problematic for many, as families juggling multiple jobs to keep food on the table must also worry about their electric and water bills. One organization hoping to help relieve the stress is Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico. 

The Albuquerque-based food bank is part of Feeding America, one of the largest nonprofits combating food insecurity in rural areas that have been struck by poverty. 

Roadrunner Food Bank held a special, drive-through produce distribution event Sept. 27 that allowed community members to line up and receive fresh produce along with some packaged food. The event – described as a “pop-up” food distribution — was held at the Sunland Park Sports Complex in Santa Teresa.

Southern Doña Ana County struggles with high rates of food insecurity, local advocates have said. 

Although the event was designed to help community members from New Mexico, residents from nearby Texas communities were also present. The organization anticipated 650 to 700 families would be present, but Efrain Trigueras, vice president of operations for Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico and Mexico, said there were well over 800 attending. 

“We started doing fresh produce distributions on May 4 in Las Cruces, but we go all over New Mexico. We just had one in Columbus. We try to schedule one every week if we can, but focused on different communities,” he said. 

Trigueras said they were able to supply mass amounts of produce by forming an alliance with representatives from Bancos de Alimentos de Mexico, or BAMX — a food-bank network in Mexico. 

“BAMX leadership who came up to Albuquerque for the signing agreement represent a group of more than 50 Mexican based food banks,” according to the Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico website. “We can go out to Mexico and go with all the different food banks and the alliance to receive more fresh produce we can bring into the U.S.”

Carrots, onions and chile peppers were among some of the fresh produce handed out to residents at a Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico “pop-up” food distribution event held on Sept. 27, 2024, in Santa Teresa. The community and surrounding areas experience high rates of food insecurity, advocates say. (Photo by Juan Corral/ SNMJC)

The Santa Teresa food distribution offered full bags of onions, 5-pound carrot bags and a variety of fruits to people in need of assistance. During the event, a volunteer makes the rounds tallying cars, while asking drivers for any information they would like to provide to be notified about the next distribution event.

Roadrunner’s first such pop-up fed 160 families.

The next pop-up fresh produce event will be held Oct. 11 in Chaparral. The Instagram account listed as @roadrunnerfoodbank posts updates on upcoming pop-up food distributions.

Trigueras said community members help by donating food. If residents are willing to do so, the food must be prepackaged and store-bought with a valid expiration date. If items like fruit and vegetables are bought in bulk, they are inspected beforehand to make sure they are safe to consume. 

Leticia Garcia, community advocacy manager for Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico, said aside from food donations, residents also volunteer during the events.

“We need to give this food out to somebody instead of letting it expire and go to waste. So …, we want to try to come out once a month, and it is such a great feeling to do this,” Garcia said. “The need is great. We came out here to give at least 500 to 600 people food. We have partner agencies, and right now we are with Southern New Mexico Project who recruited the volunteers we have today.”

Food assistance in high demand 

The Southern New Mexico Project provides community needs such as food, education programs, job readiness, and health programs. The nonprofit hosts twice-a-month food distribution events in Sunland Park that are separate from Roadrunner’s pop-ups. But the two organizations partner in hunger relief efforts. 

“Many of our volunteers from the community colleges in the area. Our volunteers are all students that were able to help on their free time,” Millie Ramos, co-founder of Southern New Mexico Project, said.

Southern New Mexico Project is a nonprofit that provides multi-services to low-income residents, according to Ramos and its website.

“We help people in need, but the one program that we have a large want of is the food crisis,” Ramos said.

Hundreds of cars are seen lined up, their occupants waiting to receive fresh produce from a food distribution event hosted by Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico on Sept. 27, 2024, in Santa Teresa. (Juan Corral/ SNMJC)

She said the food crisis has not declined since the COVID-19 pandemic but has rather increased quickly.

“When we got here at 8 o’clock in the morning, this parking lot was full,” Ramos said. “As you can see it’s starting to get smaller, but it was packed. When we help at events like this, the parking lots don’t decrease. It’s just full of more cars, more families.”

The massive pop-up endeavor led by Roadrunner Food Bank has managed to help families in Lovington, Alamogordo, Santa Teresa and Sunland Park.

Trigueras said he hopes this is something the community can continue to come together to fight an ongoing food crisis.

“I don’t have a warehouse in Las Cruces; this is why we work with other organizations, but we have not had a day when we go back with something. We always run out of food, and we always make sure we can feed everyone,” he said. “We are here to do a national food distribution, so we love those volunteers because they make it possible to do these large events.”

For more info on donating to or volunteering with Roadrunner, visit https://www.rrfb.org. 

Sunland Park officials are seeking funding, including from the New Mexico Legislature, to build the city’s first permanent, dedicated food pantry. Lawmakers awarded some money in the session that took place at the start of the year, but did not award the full amount advocates were seeking.

Efrain Trigueras and his team from Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico are seen Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, at a fresh produce distribution event in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. (Juan Corral/ SNMJC)