With 40 million people filing for unemployment during the Coronavirus crisis, many of us are struggling to buy food and pay bills. Some people are visiting a food pantry for the first time in their lives. Because of this, people like Izzy Thomas and her family are stepping up and helping our neighbors in need during this difficult time.
Izzy Steps Up Once Again
The last several summers, Izzy has done an annual Hike for Hunger. She has hiked for many miles, raising both money for the Storehouse and awareness about hunger along the way. With the urgent need for food right now, Izzy wanted to do something to engage the larger community in a solution. She decided to step up once again by hosting the first ever ABQ Grub Crawl May 18-22,2020.
Izzy traveled all over the Albuquerque metro area to pick up donations of nonperishable food and money for the Storehouse. Overall, she and her team of volunteers collected $3,425 in funds and 2,812 pounds of food from generous donors all over Albuquerque.
Albertsons Market, a generous ongoing donor to the Storehouse, also played a role in the success by allowing Izzy to collect food in front of their stores each day of the Grub Crawl. Together, Izzy, her family, individual donors, and Albertsons Market made the first ABQ Grub Crawl a huge success! The final results will allow the Storehouse to provide 19,468 meals to local families, which is really important with people out of work and stretched thin due to the pandemic. We rely on our donors like these to fight hunger in New Mexico. We couldn’t be more grateful for their efforts.
We Still Need Your Help
Across the country, the need for food banks and food pantries like the Storehouse has grown due to the pandemic. More families are out of work and we are seeing lots of new faces at our pantry. Even though the Grub Crawl has ended, we still need your help at the Storehouse. If you would still like to contribute, please consider donating food or money. Every dollar donated provides 5 meals to people in need. Thank you!
If you need food, please visit us. We are here to help. In June and July, we are open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to noon.
And if you’re a senior or person with a disability struggling to pay bills, our partner nonprofit Adelante can help you apply for government benefits like SNAP (formerly food stamps), LIHEAP, and more, through the Benefits Connection Center. Just call 505.273.5222, or toll-free 1-844-266-2236 if you live outside of the Albuquerque metro area.