(New Mexico News Connection) New Mexico kids on vacation from school are no longer queueing-up for cafeteria meals - and that can increase hunger for low-income children and their families. Free and reduced-priced meals are temporarily on pause during the summer months. 

Jason Riggs, community initiatives manager-client services with Roadrunner Food Bank, explained higher food prices combined with the rollback of extra COVID-19-related benefits is contributing to food insecurity. Historically, supermarkets have made up 1/3 of food bank donations, but Riggs said the pandemic and inflation have caused those contributions to taper off.

"We are having to purchase more food than we ever used to," he said. "And that's a major paradigm shift in how food banks operate."

A recent study by the nonprofit Feeding America shows food insecurity exists in all U.S. counties, and nine out of 10 are rural. It also finds nearly 40% of the food-insecure population in the U.S. is white. But Black, Native American, and Latino people are two to three times more likely to live in food-insecure households. In New Mexico, hunger affects one in five children and one in seven people overall.

Roadrunner welcomes donations such as soup, canned fruits and vegetables, pasta and sauce, and other non-perishable items - as well as produce donations from gardens and statewide growers and producers. Riggs emphasized that dedicated local volunteers keep operations running smoothly. 

"We can always use people in that warehouse, loading boxes - helping us get those trucks loaded with the food that's going to go out to help people feed their kids," he said. 

Riggs added Roadrunner Food Bank will host a call-in event tomorrow, June 21st with local KOB TV during the station's evening news segment for anyone who wants to learn how to help. Or they can learn about receiving food assistance from charitable hunger programs across the state this summer.

"They might not know about our services at all," Riggs said. "They may have heard of a food bank - or they may be in parts of the state where Roadrunner Food Bank is not a household term. That gives us that extra edge so we can do what we need to do to get that food out there, and help as many people as we can."

Riggs added that cash donations are also welcome, because every dollar donated can buy five meals.