A Food Bank & SNAP Outreach; How Food Stamps Help State Farmers

A day ago, we posted a video of Sovereign Hager, supervising attorney for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, who told us about the importance of the SNAP program for families in New Mexico who are working or seeking work. Ms. Hager was one of three speakers at the Bread for the World Offering of Letters workshop in Albuquerque.

The letter-writing campaign, entitled For Such a Time as This, urges people of faith and conscience to raise our collective voices to urge Congress to invest in and protect key programs that help improve the lives of men, women, and children facing hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world.  Our workshop on March 17 focused on how one federal program, SNAP, is crucial to low-income families in New Mexico.

Below are videos of the two other speakers at the workshop.

(Please bear with us, this video is out of focus for the first 45 seconds)

As hard as everybody is working..small churches and organizations that are putting out food pantries or running soup kitchens...the food that Roadrunner Food Bank gives out to 70,000 New Mexicans is only going to last on average about two weeks. It so happens that on average, SNAP benefits last people about two weeks, Together, there's this chance that we can get families and households through that month with enough food last them throughout....

Jason Riggs: Manages the SNAP Outreach Program at Roadrunner Food Bank. The program works to reduce some of the barriers that prevent hungry people in New Mexico from participating in this important program. By providing SNAP application assistance and education at food distribution locations, more New Mexicans can become informed about their potential eligibility and learn important information about how they can obtain benefits. New Mexico has an 81% participation rate among eligible SNAP households. There are many barriers that prohibit the remaining eligible 19% from successfully participating in the program. They are often are not informed about the program and have not yet applied to receive them.

Over one-third of New Mexico farmers are on food stamps, so anything that can help them get more income is excellent..,New Mexican farmers who participate in the Double-Up Food Bucks program have seen an increase in their take-home income...

Sarah Lucero. Program specialist at the New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association. Her focus is on the development, promotion and support for the Double Up Food Bucks program in our state. The program allows recipients of SNAP benefits to obtain more fruits and vegetables when you spend your SNAP EBT Card dollars at participating farmers’ markets,