With food stamp reductions set to kick in this month, New Mexico's food banks and other organizations are bracing for even more requests over the holiday season.
Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, total $5 billion nationally. Federal officials say through next September, the cuts will mean a loss of $47 million in money for food going to 442,000 New Mexicans.
To make up for that, charities say they would have to double their efforts.
Sherry Hooper is the executive director of The Food Depot, which provides food to agencies in nine northern counties. She tells the Albuquerque Journal that food pantries are already stretched thin.
The Food for Santa Fe pantry has already reduced from 900 to 600 the bags of groceries it distributes weekly.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal.
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