Courtesy photo

 

Soccoro Storehouse is in the business of giving food to the community year-round, and during the holiday season the foodbank steps up the giving. Executive Director Melissa Ramsey is the only paid employee, and she oversees a current pool of six volunteers.

“For Thanksgiving 2021 Storehouse clients were given $50 vouchers to John Brooks Supermart so they could shop for their holiday meal,” Ramsey said.  The vouchers were so successful that on December 13 Storehouse again gave out $50 vouchers for their clients’ Christmas grocery needs. Funding for the voucher program came from private donations and a grant from the Taos Foundation.

In November, the Storehouse served 265 households. “That includes the Thanksgiving meals.”

But even so, Ramsey said that overall the Storehouse has seen a decrease in clients this year.

“Things have changed since COVID. We’re now down, a lot,” she said. “We have been running roughly between 30 and 35 clients on Thursdays. It was usually as high as 60 or 70. One reason is that they had so much funding coming in through the government for the pandemic that they haven’t needed us.”

But there are still singles and the elderly that rely on the Storehouse.

“The ones who are coming back are a lot of the single households,” she said. “And then we have some of the older households. Those are the ones we saw coming back first.”

As for new clients, “we’re getting new ones, usually two, maybe three, each week. So we’re just now starting to see those numbers come back,” she said.

The need for on-site volunteers has also decreased this year.

“We went from 14 volunteers down to six. That’s for the Thursdays when clients come to pick up their boxes,” Ramsey said. “On Tuesdays, we have four. That’s when we prep for Thursdays, and twice a month we have the Roadrunner truck.”

Money raised by donations goes to pay for bi-weekly food supplies from Roadrunner Food Bank, as well as groceries from John Brooks.

“We had two grants coming in and they helped with the Thanksgiving and holidays,” she said.

The Storehouse again this year supported the Annual Food Drive for Christmas in memory of the Jaramillo family, coordinating with Damien and Kathleen Ocampo.

“The Storehouse also partnered with the Hop Canyon Fire LLC in providing boxes of food to Veguita residents,” Ramsey said.

Lorraine Archuleta, president of the Storehouse board of directors says these cooperative community outreaches, “give us the opportunity to give food to our neighbors.”

Funding for these cooperative programs is provided by private donations and a grant from the Sparkjoy Foundation.

The Storehouse has been serving the community for 20 years and is supported by private donations. Weekly boxes of food – including frozen meats and fresh fruits and vegetables – are distributed each Thursday from 12-2 p.m. at 519 S. Hwy 85 (South California across from Dollar Tree).

For further information call 575-835-2079 or go to socorrostorehouse.org.

 

John Larson, El Defensor Chieftain