Local leaders help Feed Rio Rancho Kids

Since 2019, Feed Rio Rancho Kids has been doing just that.

Founded by Karen Schafer and Kitty Perez, Feed Rio Rancho Kids is a nonprofit that prepares and distributes snack packs for school kids in the City of Vision who are living with food scarcity.

Feed Rio Rancho Kids’ motto is, “In Rio Rancho no child should go to bed hungry.”

“It just makes me angry that anyone in this town, county, state, country, any kid goes to bed hungry,” Schaefer said. “That should not happen. So this is our little bit that we try to do to fix that.”

Volunteers deliver snack packs through the schools on Fridays to provide food for students in need over the weekend. On the morning of Sept. 24, some local leaders joined the volunteers to help get the snack packs ready to be delivered to students at Colinas del Norte Elementary School, Stapleton Elementary School, Lincoln Middle School and the Desert Programs of Rio Rancho Public Schools.

Among the 20-plus people gathered at Feed Rio Rancho Kids’ home base, the Unitarian Universalist Westside Congregation, were Sandoval County Commissioners Joshua Jones and Katherine Bruch, state Rep. Kathleen Cates, members of the Democratic Party of Sandoval County, which is partners with Feed Rio Rancho Kids, and Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull.

“There’s a real gap in food service and this really meets a need that, until you’re a family that receives one of these, or a kid that receives one of these snack packs, you just really don’t know the impact it makes. It’s really an emotional thing for the people that receive these things, because it’s answering a need,” Hull said. “I remember being a young parent myself, and we were the recipient of some help when I was raising five kids. When we get help, it is just such a blessing and such an encouragement to know that we’ve got a community like ours that reaches out and helps.” 

Funds for the snack packs, which are filled with items like canned food, snacks, ramen noodles, granola bars, are provided by private donors, PNM and discretionary fund distributions from Bruch and Jones, who have each given over $5,000. Cates, who has donated over $1,000 to Feed Rio Rancho Kids, gave another check to Schaefer before joining the other volunteers in assembling snack packs.

“Coming from a single-parent family, we didn’t have a lot of resources, and I was someone as a student who was able to get free lunch through the state program, but it would have been great to have, or know about an organization such as Feed Rio Rancho Kids,” Jones said. “I know that there are a few food pantries that are in Sandoval County that are continuing to help families in tribal communities or rural communities, but whatever I can do to help to assist kids and their families, I’m more than happy to do that, whether it be volunteering or helping with discretionary funding.”

During the school year, from August to May, Feed Rio Rancho Kids supplies between 45 and 55 packets each week. One of its partners, the Unitarian Universalist Westside Congregation, provides space for storage of the food and for assembling the packets. All administration and assembly is done by volunteers.

In addition to weekend snack packs, Feed Rio Rancho Kids provides some schools with new winter coats. During Thanksgiving and winter breaks, Feed Rio Rancho Kids helps supply all the fixings for holiday dinners. 

“It’s an honor for our congregation to be a partner with Feed Rio Rancho Kids,” church council moderator Nika Quirk said. “One of the most important things that you can do is help children to not have an empty belly, to not know hunger and to be able to stand at a different place and be able to do better in school, to be able to play better, to be stronger, to be healthier.”

To donate to or volunteer with Feed Rio Rancho Kids, visit uuwestside.org/index.php/feed-the-kids-rio-rancho.