Food program in peril
Bush budget cuts may mean the end of extra helpings in Cibola

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Approximately $120,000 a year worth of extra food will disappear from Cibola County on Sept. 30 if Congress upholds President George W. Bush's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget which will begin Oct. 1.

That's because the entire $114 million Commodity Supplement Food Program would be deleted from the U.S. budget. The program is worth about $3 million to New Mexico, including around $2 million of U.S. Agriculture Department surplus food, according Vicki Metheny, manager of the state office of Economic Council Helping Others, Inc., in Farmington. The other $1 million pays for the people and operating costs of the state CSFP and four branch offices, two of which ECHO operates through contracts. The other offices are in Las Cruces and Roswell.

Once a month, for a half-day, ECHO comes to the Cibola Senior Citizens Center in Grants with a semi from its Albuquerque warehouse. About 200 people a month receive a box of food worth some $50 at retail prices, Metheny said.

According to Albuquerque branch manager Kirk Denetclaw, each box includes three 46-oz. cans of juice, four cans of vegetables, two cans of fruit, a can of meat, a grain item, three cans of evaporated milk, two boxes of cereal, a bag of more than a pound of powdered milk and a 2-lb. block of cheese.

"All our food here is non-perishable," Denetclaw added.

A $50 box each for 200 people amounts to $10,000 a month or $120,000 a year.

Denetclaw said the Albuquerque facility serves approximately 7,500 people a month, ranging from Questa in the north to Soccorro in the south to Grants in the west to Estancia in the east.

Metheny noted, "All that would completely disappear if the president and USDA have their way." But she said she doesn't think that will happen because of the impact, ranging from the elderly to little children whose parents are not quite out of the WIC program.

"People do have a voice. If they have an opinion, this would be their opportunity to let their representatives, their federal legislators, know. If it's OK with the senior that they would not be getting help, with the rising cost of health care, then let them know. A lot of seniors are veterans and don't deserve to be treated this way," she said.

ECHO opened in Grants in 1996, succeeding the Roadrunner Food Bank. It is ECHO's only program in the county. The non-profit corporation also serves McKinley County through its Farmington office. The only other food bank, other than tribal assistance for reservation members, is the community pantry. The Grants pantry on Stephens Street is a branch of the Gallup operation.

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci in Grants, telephone 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775 (cellular).