A bridge to self-sufficiency
A non-profit and tax-exempt, all volunteer organization whose mission is to provide supplemental food on a regular basis to those in need
Food for Santa Fe is an all volunteer non-profit dedicated to providing a supplemental food bag to the hungry from its warehouse at the back of the Food Depot every Thursday morning from 5:00am to 9:00am.
Food For Santa Fe was founded by the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe in 1979, becoming non-sectarian in 1992. Since its inception, every Thursday morning except Thanksgiving when we distribute food on Wednesday, Food For Santa Fe has given grocery bags of food to the hungry.
Presently, clients drive through our work area and for every adult in the car we give one bag of groceries and for every child 2 ½ pints of milk and a healthy treat. Every bag of groceries contains 3 or 4 canned or packaged items, baking potatoes, a dozen fresh eggs and bread. On some Thursdays the Food Depot is able to provide fresh vegetables or fruit for distribution to our clients. If you show up at the appropriate time you get groceries, no questions asked.
On average we distribute 1000 to 1200 bags a week and on the Thursday before Christmas, 2010 we distributed our 1,000,000th bag since our inception.
All work is done by volunteers leaving administrative expenses at some 10% of funds raised. We must pay for our warehouse, an annual audit, filing tax returns and our twice a year newsletter. All other money goes to the purchase of canned and packaged food, potatoes, eggs, milk and treats for the kids. We buy in bulk and presently most of the food is purchased from the Food Depot. In 2010 we raised approximately $178,000 from foundations, local churches, mailing list supporters and clients(particularly the immigrant population who donate quarters and dollars for the groceries received).
Food for Santa Fe is always looking for volunteers to help in a variety of projects including filling bags on Wednesday and for bag distribution on Thursday as well as grant writing and newsletter production. Phone our contact person for further information and the location of our warehouse (We are only at our warehouse for a few hours on Wednesday and from 3:30am to 9:00am on Thursdays).
