
Nancy Barnes-Smith with Roadrunner Food Bank in southern New Mexico said Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization, reported Luna County has the 10th-highest hunger rate among Hispanics across all U-S
counties.
The national food insecurity study also ranked Luna as the county with the highest percentage of hunger in New Mexico at 27-point-one percent… followed by McKinley at 23-point-four percent and San Juan at 19-point-nine percent.
McKinley County has the 6th-highest hunger rate in the nation among American Indians.
Statistics used by Feeding America for their second annual "Map the Meal Gap" national study reportedly were collected
by the U-S Department of Agriculture, the U-S Census Bureau, the U-S Bureau of Labor Statistics and The Nielsen Company.
Luna County is served from Roadrunner Food Bank's Las Cruces branch which opened in January of 2011. There are two distribution sites: Helping Hand in the Deming Industrial Park and the Andrew Sanchez Youth Center in Columbus.
Barnes-Smith said both sites are doing the best they can… but she said the need is greater than they can meet.
She said Roadrunner Food Bank is working to enlist community support and establish more food distribution locations. Those locations can be set up to serve on an emergency basis or for regular distribution… and can include sponsoring a Mobile Food Pantry
providing up to 50 pounds of food a month to families in need.
Barnes-Smith can be reached at her Las Cruces office at 575-680-1900. .