Empty Stocking Fund continues to help people in need

For more than four decades, The New Mexican’s Empty Stocking Fund has been helping community members stay warm, fill their pantries and conquer critical problems during the holidays.

The community-based grant program continues in 2022 — a year when needs are as significant as they have ever been for people in the greater Santa Fe area who continue to struggle with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2021, the Empty Stocking Fund raised a record $423,000, and organizers hope to eclipse that number this year with the help of a wide base of community donors.

“We get [donations] from all over the place,” said Susan Cahoon, The New Mexican’s human resources director and organizer of the effort. “We’ve gotten funds from different organizations, a lot of individuals or subscribers, and that money is used to help people who live in our community who need help this time of year.”

Past recipients of the community’s generosity include people like Jerrica Salazar, a single mother taking care of a 5-year-old son with autism. Salazar said she was forced to quit her job to become a full-time caretaker for her child.

“I can’t really obtain employment right now because there’s no child care that is equipped and knowledgeable with autism care in the area,” she said.

Salazar started selling baked goods from home as a way to get by but still fell behind on her mortgage.

After hearing her story, the Empty Stocking Fund committee agreed to send her bank a check for $1,500 to help her catch up on her payments. “It’s been a great help. It doesn’t cover everything, but it’s more than I had,” Salazar said.

The Empty Stocking Fund accepts applications from those in the community who need assistance and awards about 600 grants a year. Before the grants are distributed, the committee interviews applicants and makes decisions based on need.

“We have a number of volunteers who reach out to these folks to verify the information that they’ve supplied, and if they qualify,” Cahoon said. “We tell them what information we need in order to give them assistance, and then we take care of it.”

Volunteers come from the Salvation Army, Habitat For Humanity, The Life Link and Presbyterian Medical Services, to name a few.

Applications for the fund opened Nov. 1 and will be accepted through Nov. 30. Funds are restricted to residents within a 50-mile radius of Santa Fe and awarded to those who have not received funding within the last four years.

The Empty Stocking Fund was started in 1981 by the late Robert McKinney, the newspaper’s longtime owner. The fund has since raised and distributed about $5.4 million.

Cahoon said many of the fund’s grant recipients use the assistance to turn their life around. She said many also go on to help other people.

One of them is Antoinette Cannon, who is receiving assistance from the Empty Stocking Fund to help replace her cracked windshield, that was quickly becoming a safety hazard. She lost her job during the pandemic but returned to work in June with the Santa Fe Indigenous Center. The help in fixing the windshield, she said, will ease her anxiety as she drives with her three children.