LC Soup Kitchen Has Longer Lines, Hungrier Stomachs
By ABC-7 Reporter/Anchor Abe Lubetkin
LAS CRUCES — Long lines and hungry stomachs. That’s what you’ll see outside the only soup kitchen in the City of the Crosses during lunchtime.
As the nation’s economic turmoil hits closer to the Borderland, more people are turning to the El Caldito Soup Kitchen for help. “Us small people are forced to come here. This is the only soup kitchen, besides the mission, where people choose to eat,” saida man who occasionally eats at the kitchen.
Gable Anaya, the director of the soup kitchen, said his kitchennormallyhelpsabout 180 people a day.
That was six months ago. Now,more than250 people pass through El Caldito’sfront doors every day.
“We’ve been having to buy more paper products, meat andproduce,” said Anaya,”other than that, we’ve been doing well.”
Tuesday, the usual crowd filled up the kitchen during lunchtime. Manyclaim they have noticed longer lines and a busier kitchen lately. “I see city workers sometimes or painters come over here and eat too,” said Jessie, an El Caldito regular.
Some of the new crowd said they just go to the kitchen during their lunch break. Others said they simply can’t get a job and need all the help they can get.
Alocal mother said her job as a cashier is not affording her the opportunity to feed her four kids. “What I make is not enough to pay all the bills,” she said, “Within the last month, I’ve been coming here almost every day, I never used to come here.”
“It’s hard to support [my five kids] with what they give us on welfare,” said another mother. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know where we would go.”
A labor worker with seven kids said the economy is taken a turn for the worst and he has started to visit the kitchen during his lunch breaks. “It’s just hard to pay the bills,” he said.
Anaya said the kitchen hasenough food to accommodate the higher demand, but would appreciate more volunteers. The worst case scenarios, he said, would be having to serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
