Staff Report
With winter rapidly approaching, the Human Services Department has awarded the New Mexico Association of Food Banks $300,000 in supplemental funds to help feed New Mexico's needy.
The allotted sum will be used to help feed homeless and low-income families on a statewide emergency basis and provide assistance to functional programs.
N.M. homeless shelters and soup kitchens are provided with 42,877 meals daily. The Human Services Department will help to provide food to feed needy individuals by maintaining a warehouse that will deliver food to shelters, soup kitchens, as well as families who request aid, on a daily basis.
Other programs that assist in battling hunger in New Mexico are the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which provides low-income families with about 13,000 food baskets every month and the food stamps program. Food stamps provide roughly 180,000 people with $13.5 million dollars in food products monthly. Food stamps are accepted at most food retailers.
New Mexico is now taking action to provide additional, non-food services to those whom require assistance. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program facilitated 40,000 families last winter with economic burdens, charging an average of $190 per family for conventional heating systems.
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J. Barry Blitz, deputy secretary for Human Services Department, called the assistance provided by nonprofit organizations "aggressive" and "important," citing New Mexico Association of Food Banks as one of the many organizations that will help put New Mexico in "good shape when it comes to helping the needy this winter season."
N.M. residents can apply for aid programs at the Income Support Division Field Offices. Thirty-four ISDFC offices are located throughout the state.
