Grandparents Raising Children and Other Hunger-Related Issues

It's no coincidence that the director of  a food bank and northern New Mexico and the representative of the U.S. Census for Santa Fe and surrounding areas would make the same observation: many  grandparents are raising children, which has a direct correlation to hunger.

On recent trip to Española, Sherry Hooper engaged in a conversation with a local official about demographics in area schools. "Someone told me that 60 percent of the children in Española schools are being raised by their grandparents. Sixty percent!"said Hooper. director of The Food Depot, which covers Santa Fe and a good portion of northern New Mexico. "I knew there were some, but I had no idea there were that many."

Incidentally, the organization Grandparents Raising Grandchildren was created in Española and is supported by Las Cumbres Community Center.

Below is an excerpt of Hooper's talk about hunger in northern New Mexico at Feeding Our Neighbors, a workshop sponsored by the Interfaith Hunger Coalition (IHC) and Temple Beth Shalom.



Many problems are associated with this scenario of grandparents raising children. For one, many seniors or near-seniors are income-limited and already have to make tough decisions like choosing on whether to spend their funds on utilities, medication or food. On top of that, they must take care of all the expenses associated with raising children. The New Mexico state government offers some resources to grandparents who are raising grandchildren.

Marisa Santistevan

From the standpoint of the census, some seniors often won't admit to authorities that they are raising grandchildren for fear that they would lose privileges, such as the right to live in subsidized housing that is limited to people of a certain age. According to Marisa Santistevan, partnership director for the U.S. Census Bureau in Santa Fe, there is the risk that these children living with grandparents will not be counted in the 2020 Census. Among other things, an accurate count would help a state of New Mexico obtain all the resources to which we are entitled. Read more on why the census is important.

Santistevan was  among the speakers at Feeding Our Neighbors. Other presenters included Tracey Enright from Feeding Santa Fe and Rachel White Sternheim, education director at Congregation Albert in Albuquerque and a member of the IHC steering committee. White Sternheim prepared the opening reflection based on Psalm 137 and also spoke about MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.  Carlos Navarro, convener of the IHC, presented a history of our organization and additional statistics on hunger in New Mexico.

We also offered participants an opportunity to write letters to Rep. Ben Ray Lujan urging him to oppose new administrative rules that would restrict many more families from retaining access to the SNAP program. Ellen Buelow, chair of the IHC advocacy committee, explained that new rules offered by the federal administration would push more than 3 million Americans off food stamps,

We are thankful to Judah Horowitz, social justice director at Temple Beth Shalom, and Rabbi Neil Amswych for hosting our event.

Judah Horowitz

Tracey Enright

Ellen Buelow

Workshop participants