Community should unite behind food drive

Neighborhoods are the building blocks of our town — and every September for nearly a decade, Santa Fe has come together to gather food so that none of our neighbors goes hungry. It’s the perfect event for Hunger Action Month, celebrated each September across the country.

This fall marks the eighth annual Neighbor to Neighbor Food Drive, with weeks of work culminating in the collection of food Saturday, Sept. 21. With some 18,500 food insecure people in Santa Fe County — that’s a fancy term for hungry — and more than 6,000 children in that group, the food drive can make a difference in the lives of our neighbors.

It’s the biggest such collection of food for The Food Depot, which each month provides 430,000 meals through its partner agencies and direct service across Northern New Mexico. In that broader region, there are some 38,000 people — and 13,000 children — who don’t always know where their next meal will be found.

This year, the goal of the food drive is to include 120-plus neighborhoods and businesses to collect 275,000 pounds of food. That translates into about 230,000 meals.

Neighborhoods signed up for the food drive earlier this month — on Saturday, all the preliminary work will pay off as people bring food to various collection points around the city. Watch for signs in your neighborhood, whether at home or in your workplace, so you can participate. The Santa Fe New Mexican, 202 E. Marcy St., is collecting food. Coordinators Linda Wilder Flatt and Jane Freeman deserve our thanks for taking on this important project.

For people who are unsure if their neighbors are taking part, there’s always the option of donating money to The Food Depot (Mail checks to The Food Depot, attn: Dot Greene, 1222A Siler Road, Santa Fe NM 87507. For credit card donations, go online at thefooddepot.org/N2Nor). Some people choose to give of their time, and Hunger Action Month is an opportunity to become more involved in work to relieve hunger. People interested in volunteering can send a message to volunteer@thefooddepot.org to find out ways to help.

This work is more important than ever. Nationally, federal officials are proposing to reduce various food benefits for people all across the country. That means cutbacks to programs that feed children at school or that provide government assistance so people can buy food. In this climate, local food drives are more important than ever.

No one should go hungry in the wealthiest country in the world. Working together, we can make sure our neighbors have enough to eat.