FOOD AND GRATITUDE
SFPS program distributes holiday meals to families in need — one less thing to worry about for those struggling to make ends meet
For Maria, who is unemployed and helping to take care of two grandchildren, the sacks full of food offered a sign of hope and the promise of a good family gathering at Thanksgiving. But the tears she shed spoke to what the food really meant: gratitude, mixed with sadness.
This will be Maria’s first Thanksgiving without her daughter, who recently died, she said in Spanish through an interpreter.
That painful loss, as well as being out of work, makes things more difficult when it comes to ensuring her daughter’s two elementary school-age children get a good education and stay healthy.
She waited Tuesday with dozens of others for free holiday meals at the Adelante Program offices at Santa Fe Public Schools’ B.F. Young Professional Center, watching as sacks of groceries brought families together and made things seem a little more normal during the holiday season.
“It’s very important because I don’t work,” she said.
Maria, who declined to give her last name, said for the past two years she has been relying on Adelante — the school district’s assistance program for homeless students — because she wants her grandchildren to “do better in life.”
Among other goals, Adelante provides assistance for students who are considered homeless under federal guidelines. That may mean they are living on the streets, but also applies to those who sleep in cars, couch surf or stay in motels or in shelters. They may also be living in overcrowded bedrooms or apartments.
Adelante currently serves about 700 students, though that figure is estimated to go up to about 1,100 by the end of the school year, said Michelle Vignery, a development specialist with Adelante.
Among other initiatives, Adelante works to find affordable housing, pay utility bills and provide emergency money to families of homeless students. It also distributes backpacks, school supplies, clothing, hygiene products and food to students and their families in need during the year.
In what has now become an annual event around this time of year, Adelante staff members put together 200 of what they call Harvest Day sacks of food — including canned vegetables, stuffing, pumpkin pie mix, macaroni and cheese, plus frozen turkeys — to serve families enrolled in the program.
Recipients also got pre-cooked meals, courtesy of What the Truck catering services, and gift cards to buy ham, turkey, chicken or whatever they wanted for the main entrée.
Otherwise, many of the families would not be able to afford a celebratory dinner this weekend, Vignery said in an interview at Adelante. She said it’s difficult for them to envision a holiday meal when they are worried
about being evicted or not having enough money to pay the electric bill.
“A lot of times you are just counting dimes,” she said of the families taking part in the holiday offering. “This gives them some breathing room — ‘Here’s some food, make some holiday memories.’ ”
The need is growing, Vignery said. Last year, Adelante gave out 110 holiday dinners.
Noemi Sanchez, program coordinator for Adelante, said this time of year is “about family — sitting together, talking together. It should be like that every day, but for some people that is hard, working two jobs, struggling to get by.”
The economic and social hardships facing Santa Fe students are common throughout the country. According to the the National Conference of State Legislatures website, an estimated 4.2 million youth and young adults experience homelessness in the U.S.
It’s a population the average person might not see because they are not necessarily standing on a street corner with a sign asking for help, Vignery and Sanchez said. They could be part of situation in which two families are sharing one small living complex or even a bedroom with “everyone squished together,” Vignery said.
That’s not an ideal setting for living or learning, she said.
Adelante social worker Ivan Cornejo understands. He recalled coming to New Mexico from Mexico with his parents more than 20 years ago. They initially shared a single room in a mobile home in Santa Fe.
He said he sees a lot of families today living the same way as he loaded and wheeled carts of donated food into a big room where Adelante staff members organized them.
“Homelessness doesn’t define a person,” he said. “It’s just a situation they are struggling to get out of.”
Some, he said, “are afraid to come out of the shadows and ask for help.”
Adelante started about 20 years ago, while the Thanksgiving food drive and distribution has run for about 15 years.
The donated food came from a number of sources, including banks, churches, caterers and several public schools, including Carlos Gilbert Elementary School, a K-6 facility with more than 300 students in downtown Santa Fe.
Reached by phone at the school Tuesday afternoon, Carlos Gilbert fourth grader Zavery Saiz said students worked with their families to gather and donate food from their own pantries and kitchens and also reached out to a larger family of friends and supporters to garner more supplies.
“Why [is it] so important? We are blessed, and some people don’t really have this stuff, so we have to do this for people,” said Saiz, the son of the school’s nursing assistant, Marissa Saiz.
“That was our moment to be kind to other people, to help them have a good Thanksgiving dinner.”