It’s a stark fact. Hunger hurts – physically, mentally, emotionally.
We’re not talking pangs from a later-than-usual lunch, but true hunger.
For the past 14 years, the employees of our tri-cities, Farmington, Aztec and Bloomfield, along with San Juan County, have taken up a challenge to fight hunger, especially important in these times of rising prices. And they could use your help.
“This is the 15th year for the food drive challenge, which started as a friendly competition between departments of San Juan County and has grown to become the largest food drive of the year for ECHO,” said Devin Neeley, public relations officer for San Juan County.
Anyone and everyone can donate nonperishable food items to their area’s participating municipality offices. Donations are collected in barrels and later weighed in at the ECHO (Economic Council Helping Others) Food Bank.
There are a number of collection sites for this drive, according to Devin Neeley. The city halls of Farmington, Aztec and Bloomfield as well as the main San Juan County administration building in Aztec all have barrels, but there are a multitude of other sites spread out all over the county.
Places such as fire stations, libraries, civic centers, senior centers and more make up the estimated 50 to 70 collection sites, Neeley said, making it easy to find a place to donate.
Donations are sorted into Holiday Food Boxes, Emergency Food Boxes, and the Homeless Program Boxes that ECHO distributes to those in need within the community. Cash donations are also taken and count as triple points toward the competitors’ overall collections.
The local need is great and growing, according to Laura Watson, executive director of ECHO in Farmington. “We are seeing more people that are needing additional food just to get by,” Watson said. “Food prices have increased dramatically, affecting us all,” she said.
In general, donations to ECHO have dropped off to some extent, Watson added. “We have a seen a little bit of a drop financially, because everybody’s budgets are tight,” she said.
Now ongoing since Oct. 10, the initiative continues to collect food and dollars through Nov. 13, with the final weigh-in to be held on Thursday, Nov. 14.
This is a competition, after all, so there is an award. The trophy for all this do-goodery? A highly coveted Mr. Potato Head, displayed in the civic offices of the winner, which last year was won by Bloomfield. But the true reward is the warm feeling of knowing that people in our communities help those in need.
For additional information about ECHO Inc., visit echoinc.org, or call (505) 325-7466.
