Proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are causing concern at New Mexico food banks and other food-assistance organizations.
The proposed changes will leave more people looking for food, and the state's five food banks are already at serving capacity. More than 450,000 New Mexicans receive SNAP assistance, which provides two-and-a-half weeks of food per person.
More than 40 percent of SNAP families look to food banks to fill in the gap each month. The Food Depot, a Santa Fe-area food bank, provided nearly 5 million meals in 2019.
But donations have dropped dramatically, causing the organization to use its limited resources to purchase food items. With no increase in financial donations or outside funding, the organization could soon be in a bind.
“[SNAP] is a program that will keep some families from falling into poverty," Food Depot Executive Director Sherry Hooper said in a press release. "What’s frustrating is that they’re making this sweeping change, and they’re really uninformed on how each state is different. New Mexico is really rural, we have high poverty, we have low-wage jobs. It’s as if they have given us something that can’t be done.”
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