Food aid cuts strain San Luis families, churches step in
San Luis families losing about $334 a month in food aid are leaning on Gethsemani Baptist Church, which feeds roughly 300 households a week.
A cut to Arizona’s Nutrition Assistance can wipe out about $334 a month for a household, and in San Luis that gap was already pushing families to choose between groceries, rent and childcare. In one of Yuma County’s most vulnerable border communities, residents said food had become harder to stretch as assistance shrank and monthly budgets tightened.
Pastor Manuel Castro of Iglesia Getsemaní, known in English as Gethsemani Baptist Church, said the need had grown among older adults, low-wage workers and families with children. The church kept distributing food and pantry items, continuing a ministry that has operated in San Luis for about 25 years and has served roughly 300 families each week while moving hundreds of thousands of pounds of food over time.
The church’s role in San Luis has also been shaped by a legal fight that nearly shut the ministry down. After city officials moved against it in 2024, the City of San Luis and Gethsemani Baptist Church reached a settlement entered in federal court in September 2025, allowing the food ministry to continue. That history helped explain why Castro’s work drew attention beyond the city, including an invitation to join a panel in Washington on the consequences of food-aid cuts.
The pressure reaching San Luis reflected a wider strain across Arizona. The Arizona Department of Economic Security reported that in January 2026, 286,612 households and 532,868 people received Nutrition Assistance, with total issuance of about $95.8 million. Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap estimated that Yuma County had 38,510 food-insecure people in 2022, a rate of 18.8 percent, along with an annual food-budget shortfall of $25,836,000.
Local nonprofits were still trying to fill the breach. The Yuma Community Food Bank said it had served Southwestern Arizona for 48 years, runs 10 monthly mobile distributions in Yuma County and helps feed about 20,000 people each month. The Salvation Army Yuma Corps also operates a San Luis location with a food pantry and utility assistance, part of the patchwork now absorbing the impact when public food benefits fall short.
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