Nutrition aid surges, food banks brace for uncertain future

By MORGAN LEE
Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Food banks in New Mexico are watching warily within a state with high rates of childhood poverty and hunger as the federal government pours more money into food stamps starting in October. At the same time, companion emergency benefits are being renewed tenuously each month to allow the maximum food-aid payment per individual or family — often doubling standard monthly benefit payments. The eventual end to those programs is likely to send shock waves through personal and family finances in New Mexico, where more than one-in-four residents depends on the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to put food on the table.