Las Cruces Soup Kitchen Runs Low On Food

The president of El Caldito, Gabe Chavez, said this year has been the most difficult for the soup kitchen in his entire 24-year career.

Stock is down and clients are up at soup kitchens and homeless shelters across New Mexico. The El Caldito Soup Kitchen on the 900 block in Las Cruces is no exception.

“Friendly people serving you and its just nice,” said David Hillis. Hillis is an El Caldito regular who says he depends on and looks forward to the hot meals the kitchen serves up.

But according to Chavez donations at El Caldito are down and traffic is up by nearly 50 percent. It’s a trend that could threaten the availability of the food that David Hillis and many others depend on.

“I don’t know if I could get food stamps or anything like that, but they wouldn’t prepare meals anyhow, so it’d be harder,” said Hillis. “I bet it would be on most of the people here.”

“Sometimes we say, ‘Well what do we do if we run out?'” said Chavez. “We haven’t come to that spot yet.” Chavez said a rough economy is brining more people in and leaving those who donate with less to give.

“Everybody (has) needs. They’re down in money, down in everything,” said Chavez. “The people need something better than what we have.”

Chavez said his pantry’s shelves are dwindling every day. He’s even relying on a “back up” stock of frozen turkeys to provide meat.

“We’re running out, even of turkeys, so its getting bad,” admitted Chavez. Although his shelves are running low, Chavez said he’s hopeful the Las Cruces community will come through.

“This community’s always been helpful. They come out and when we need them. They show up and help us out,” said Chavez.

If you would like to make a donation to the El Caldito Soup Kitchen call; (575) 525-3831 All donations are welcome, but meat and vegetables are extremely appreciated.