Linda Flatt has the right idea. She’s a whirlwind volunteer who’s made it her mission to reach everyone in Rio Arriba County and ask them to help the hungry. She’s made presentations to the Española City Council and Rio Arriba County commission and just about everyone in between.
She heads the Neighbor to Neighbor program, which expanded to the County this year. The program supports the Food Depot, the largest contributor of food to hungry Rio Arribans.
Pre-pandemic Neighbor to Neighbor focused on encouraging neighborhoods to conduct non-perishable food drives. However, the risk of infection and families isolating made that impossible in 2020 and it’s still discouraged today. It’s safer and easier to seek monetary donations.
Additionally, when Food Depot receives a dollar, it can do magic with it. Food Depot is supported by so many food sources, it has much more buying power than any one donor. It can feed about five people with a dollar. This is because of matching funds for donations, discounted buys, restaurant cooperation and donated food (perishable or non-perishable).
It’s also much easier to handle electronic transfers, checks or donated direct withdrawals.
There is a huge need in Rio Arriba County. The number of those in need are naturally higher than those in our surrounding counties, where income levels are significantly higher.
However, there are many in Rio Arriba County who are able to give and support their neighbors, who can’t donate and need help.
Flatt’s idea of gathering neighborhoods together to encourage each other to donate is a good one, if it were possible to label a neighborhood poor or wealthy. Individual’s status on the economic ladder is not defined by their neighborhood here. There are people living in well-established neighborhoods who are begging on Española’s intersections. There are people with high-paying national laboratory jobs living in trailer courts.
If anyone is able to give a little, or a lot, we encourage them to go to thefooddepot.org/n2n/ and donate. Know that every dollar you give is returning to your community exponentially higher. This isn’t money going to Santa Fe nor Los Alamos and the people receiving help truly need it.
While most of us walk around acting like the pandemic is over, there are still many nowhere near “recovered.”