In NM’s most SNAP-reliant county, fear persists as the holiday season begins

by Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico – Like she does every Tuesday afternoon when the bell rings at the Shepherd’s Closet in Elephant Butte, Tami Smith stepped out the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to greet a growing line of hungry people at the food pantry she runs. Then, like she also does every Tuesday, she joined some of them in prayer.

This week, ahead of Thanksgiving, she said she read from Isaiah 41:10. It was a reminder, she said, that, “There will always be trials and tribulations in life, but God will carry you through every storm.” Then she helped 138 households comprising 523 people get food for the week, she said.

A little more than 45% of Sierra County’s roughly 11,500 residents rely on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to the state Health Care Authority. That makes it the county with the highest rate of SNAP participation in New Mexico, which also is the state with the highest SNAP reliance in the United States.  

The county’s high rate of SNAP reliance made the food pantry even more vital earlier this year when federal cuts and stoppages threw the program into upheaval, Smith said. The food pantry distributes at least 36,000 pounds of food a month, she said, to people who line up beginning at 7:30 a.m. and come from as far away as Alamogordo, Socorro or Las Cruces. 

“When you have food insecurity, and then you have all this going on with SNAP, people panic,” she said. “They want to make sure that they have enough food for their family. And we have multi-generational families here. It’s not uncommon to have 11, 12, 15 people in the household.”

Those people have turned to Shepherd’s Closet during a chaotic year. 

First, federal cuts to The Emergency Food Assistance Program left Roadrunner Food Bank, which supplies most of the pantry’s food, with 30 fewer truckloads, primarily of dairy products. The food pantry in Elephant Butte had to make up the difference with canned food, Smith said. 

Then, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” President Donald Trump signed in July contained provisions that cut SNAP and imposed future work requirements, along with other measures that prompted longer lines at the food pantry. 

Finally, when the federal government shut down Oct. 1, Smith said she knew to expect even longer lines. She’s worked as a volunteer at the pantry for a decade, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“It was severe fear and panic during the pandemic, and we see that same stuff right now, because it’s still so uncertain,” she said. “And people, especially during the holidays, they panic because they don’t think they can get enough food.”

The food line has not shrunk even though the state stepped in to pay for SNAP itself, first with a $30 million payment that covered SNAP through the first days of November and later with a $162.5 million payment meant to cover the program through January. And the line has stayed long even after the 43-day federal government shutdown ended, Smith said. 

“As long as there’s still that fear out there, the lines are not going to go down,” she said. “It would take the government to agree all the time, which won’t ever happen.”

Amid the panic, Smith said Shepherd’s Closet will continue opening every Tuesday to give out as much food as people need without judgment.

“I don’t ask many questions, because that’s not my business,” she said. “God says, ‘Feed my people.’ That’s what I do.”

Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Goldberg for questions: info@sourcenm.com.