Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico

Roadrunner Food Bank (rrfb) distributes Food to over 70,000 people every week through a network of approximately 360 emergency Food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and four regional Food banks. For every 1 donation, rrfb may distribute up to five meals. Rrfb provided over 24.3 million meals during the year ended june 30, 2023, including more than 4.7 million meals through its mobile Food pantry. The mobile Food pantry is a farmers' market style distribution that delivers nutritious and much needed Food directly to hungry people in need. The mobile Food pantry delivers to areas where individuals may not have access to Food support programs or where Food pantries or feeding programs do not exist. In addition, rrfb sponsors other direct-service programs including disaster relief, snap application assistance, an americorps program (seedcorps), a data collection and analysis program (service insights), and referrals. Rrfb continues to see heightened demand across New Mexico, only increasing with the precipitous drop in snap benefits at the end of february 2023 when the federal public heath emergency came to an end. This coupled with inflation driving up the cost of basic necessities and Food in particular created a perfect storm for many New mexicans struggling to make ends meet. Rrfb increased feeding efforts in communities where gaps existed, opening brand New Food distribution points in numerous counties around the state. Seedcorps continued to support this cause, providing over 479,675 meals during the year ended june 30, 2023. Seedcorps members provide nutrition education and resource support directly to clients. Seedcorps members also address need in underserved communities by running important gap distributions, ensuring those most vulnerable have access to healthy, nutritious Food.

Launched in the spring of 2015, rrfb's senior hunger initiative (shi) provides a combination of hunger-relief programs at low-income senior housing sites and senior centers. Each shi site has the ability to receive a mobile Food pantry to their location once a month, and these distributions offer a variety of Food that supports the distinctive nutritional needs of older adults. Each site also has the opportunity to establish a fixed Food pantry at their location, and this permanent pantry provides a consistent and ongoing source of Food assistance for seniors struggling with hunger. Rrfb supports 16 sites and continually seeks to expand the program as New funding becomes available. Rrfb's shi provided over 584,000 meals during the year ended june 30, 2023.

Rrfb's childhood hunger initiative (chi) was launched in fiscal year 2015. Chi is a Food distribution strategy tailored specifically to the needs of participating school sites across New Mexico. The selected participating schools serve children and their families through comprehensive services that may include mobile Food pantries, school-site Food pantries, and backpack programs (which provide supplemental Food provisions to Food insecure children on weekends) in combined and/or complementary ways. Chi served over 120 schools during fiscal year 2023, and rrfb continually seeks to expand the program as New funding becomes available. Rrfb's chi provided over 2.29 million meals during the year ended june 30, 2023.

Health and wellness initiatives (hwi) include the healthy foods markets (hfm), the healthy foods express (hfe), and the healthy foods center (hfc) located on rrfb premises. There are 9 hfe's operating in high-need areas with little to no Food access. Many of the hfe's serve indigenous communities that previously did not have any Food distributions occuring. Hfc is an on-site medical referral Food pantry focusing on Food insecurity and a nutrition-related chronic health condition. The healthy foods markets bring much needed produce to clients at the health care clinic. Distributions of fresh fruits and vegetables take place daily at the hfc and every other week or weekly at the hfm's. During fiscal year 2023, the hwi distributed over 470,000 meals.