April 25, 2020

Fund awards $550,000 to food banks

A fund to help food banks around the state is awarding $550,000 to address the surging demand for food assistance from residents. The relief fund, called All Together NM Fund, announced Friday that it awarded $400,000 in grants to five food banks to serve communities and tribal lands. An additional $150,000 will go to support […]

Susan Dunlap

A fund to help food banks around the state is awarding $550,000 to address the surging demand for food assistance from residents.

The relief fund, called All Together NM Fund, announced Friday that it awarded $400,000 in grants to five food banks to serve communities and tribal lands. An additional $150,000 will go to support food distribution agencies through a competitive grant process.

A coalition of community foundations, the New Mexico Coalition of Community Foundations, originated All Together NM Fund, according to a news release.

The largest grant – $289,000 – went to Roadrunner Food Bank with operations based in Albuquerque and Las Cruces. The organization has already spent three times its annual budget for the year, the news release states.

Here is a breakdown of the first-round of food grants:

The Food Bank of Eastern New Mexico (based in Clovis): $13,200
- Serves Curry, DeBaca, Guadalupe, Quay, and Roosevelt Counties
ECHO Food Bank (based in Farmington): $24,400
- Serves San Juan County
The Community Pantry (based in Gallup): $28,000
- Serves Cibola and McKinley Counties
The Food Depot (based in Santa Fe): $45,200
- Serves Colfax, Harding, Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos, and Union Counties
Roadrunner Food Bank (based in Albuquerque and Las Cruces): $289,200
- Serves Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, and Valencia Counties

The donors who made the grants possible include:

Stanley E. Fulton Family Foundation
McKinnon Family Foundation
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico
Intel Foundation
Pattern Energy
Blattner Energy, Inc
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association
Illinois #3 Foundation
RALI New Mexico
PhRMA
Virgin Galactic
Isora Foundation
Comcast
Swire Coca Cola

The New Mexico Coalition of Community Foundations established the All Together NM Fund in March to help residents respond to and eventually recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Santa Fe Community Foundation administers the fund.

Other coalition members are the Albuquerque Community Foundation, the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico, and the Taos Community Foundation. The governor’s office is helping the foundations identify the state’s most urgent needs.