Casa de Peregrinos completes 24-hour hunger strike in Las Cruces

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KVIA) -- A Las Cruces food pantry said it took a stand against hunger with a hunger strike. The Casa De Peregrinos went without food for 24 hours and started Thursday.

During its hunger strike, Casa de Peregrinos accepted donations, according to its website. All proceeds go toward efforts to feed children, families and seniors across Southern New Mexico.

The food pantry said the strike is an act of solidarity amid changes to federal nutrition assistance programs. It said 18,000 people in New Mexico lost SNAP benefits.

"Our Hunger Strike is about more than going without food for a day," said Marco Olvera, director of development at Casa de Peregrinos. "It's about standing with our neighbors who face difficult choices every day and raising awareness about the reality of hunger in our community."

The idea of a hunger strike came to Executive Director Lorenzo Alba Jr. after learning a representative in Washinton did just so. Alba Jr. told ABC-7 he felt the same could be done to address the issue in Doña Ana County.

"It really moved me, it made me feel like we needed to be doing that kind of thing. I want to make an impact like that on people's life," Alba Jr. said.

The main point of the hunger strike, as Alba Jr. explained it, is to remove the degree of separation between them and those they serve to feel the hunger and the effects of it on the body.

"All of a sudden we get to feel like they feel, and by them talking about the people that we serve, we feel the hunger pains," Alba Jr. said. "We feel the weaknesses, the change in vision, the change in how we feel physically. We feel we get to feel all of that, even if it's just for 24 hours. We get to feel how they feel so that we become more compassionate about food insecurity, so that we have more love in our hearts when we're putting volunteer hours in."

Alba Jr. said he's seen the effects of this hunger strike before. He said he met a participating family with two young daughters.

"The difficult part was seeing the daughters go through it," Alba Jr. said. "Seeing how weak they were getting as the strike went on for the 24th hour, watching them and how they were acting and feeling and the weakness and their posture, their slurring of words, that was touching. To me that was like, oh my gosh, we are doing this for the right reasons. The fact that a family did it together was incredible to me, and I'm so grateful that they decided to do that."

Casa de Peregrinos employees and Alba Jr. participated in this year's hunger strike. It marks the eighth year it's been done.

Alba Jr. is going a step further by going 36 hours without eating.

A hunger strike isn't the only way to build empathy for those facing food insecurity, Alba Jr. said. Another method he described included talking to students about the luxury of having a fully stocked fridge and being able to choose what to eat.

"I always ask kids when I go present to them, 'How many of you guys have ever been hungry?' And they raise their hands. I said, 'Is it because you skip dinner, why?'"

He said students will say they didn't like what their parents made or didn't like a specific ingredient.

"They've been hungry by choice, but there's so many children that are hungry because they really don't have anything to eat," Alba Jr. said.

One employee, Meggin Haver, told ABC-7 about her personal connection to the hunger strike. During her childhood, her and her six siblings experienced food insecurity. Her past inspired her to work with Casa de Peregrinos.

"Growing up with very little, I wanted to try this year enjoy to just, you know, put my foot in there and test the waters and see where it would, how I would feel," Haver said.

The experience is one she said had proved harder than she thought. Almost five hours into the fasting, she said the hunger made time seem to move slower. Benefitting the greater good motivated her to keep her going.

Recounting her experience with food insecurity brought her to tears. She said her participation with Casa de Peregrinos has been a learning experience.

"In doing this, I'm hoping we're able to help more families, feed more people, bring more awareness to hunger. It sucks," Haver said. "What I've learned is that I'm weak, my mind is weak. My mind wants food, my brain wants food, my stomach wants food I'm weak. As far as everybody else out there who are going days without it, they're stronger than I am."

Haver added the experience made her think about her children.

"As a mother, I couldn't imagine that for my children. That's why I love working here. I know I'm here for a cause," Haver said. "I know I'm here to hopefully help end hunger in Las Cruces. It sucks going without and knowing that there are people out here who are going without but are too ashamed to come in."

Alba Jr. said the strike isn't a solo experience.

It's just an amazing feeling that there's more than just you that want to be a part of it. The more people we have, obviously, the more joy that happens at the end of the day but we're all in this together, and that's what it feels like to me," he said.

Even with the challenge it presents to those who choose to embrace it, Haver said more people should sign up for a hunger strike.

"You don't know what your mind or what your body can go through. If you're not willing to try," Haver said. "If I wasn't willing to try this, I probably wouldn't have done it next year."

For more information about the food strike or about donating you can go to their website here.