Gallup Food Bank Struggles With Shortages Amid Rising Inflation, Fernández Says

The Gallup Community Pantry is struggling to keep supplies on hand as rising food costs and federal funding cuts compound each other, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández says, leaving McKinley County residents with fewer options in one of New Mexico's most food-insecure communities.

McKinley County's food insecurity rate hovers near 34 percent, more than double the national average. The Community Pantry, which has operated in Gallup since 1998 under the mission that "no mother's child should go hungry," distributes food free or for a nominal charge to families across the Gallup and Grants areas. That mission has grown harder to sustain as inflation shrinks what every donated dollar can buy.

Leger Fernández, who represents New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District, has pointed directly to the Trump administration's policies as a driver of the shortfalls. Even before cuts to federal SNAP benefits took effect, inflation reduced how much food Roadrunner Food Bank, New Mexico's largest, could purchase with donations or grant funding, while federal Department of Government Efficiency cuts to emergency food assistance programs eliminated more than 30 truckloads of food worth over $1 million. Roadrunner supplies partner pantries statewide, including in McKinley County, meaning those losses ripple directly to Gallup's shelves.

Roadrunner Food Bank lost $1.9 million in funding from a special USDA purchasing fund, a cut of about 30 percent, with no word on when or if that money will return. The Trump administration added to the damage by ending the Regional Farm to Food Bank program in March 2025, which had delivered more than $4.5 million in food to New Mexico's food bank network over three years.

"President Trump could act today to make sure families don't go hungry," Leger Fernández said last fall, "but instead he's using hunger as punishment."

As of August 2025, 459,535 New Mexicans relied on SNAP, about 21 percent of the state's population, the highest rate in the country. New Mexico consistently ranks toward the bottom of the nation's food security standings and placed fourth worst for childhood hunger last year. The USDA estimates that over 350,000 people, including more than 100,000 children, in New Mexico were food insecure in 2023, meaning 1 in 7 New Mexicans and nearly 1 in 4 children lacked consistent access to adequate food.

In McKinley County, roughly 34 percent of residents live below the federal poverty line, compared to an 18.3 percent statewide poverty rate, and the typical household earns about $13,800 less per year than the typical New Mexico household. With federal supply lines cut and purchasing power eroded by inflation, the Community Pantry's ability to fulfill its founding promise depends increasingly on what Gallup residents and local donors can provide.