Pastor Hutchins moves program to private property
COLUMBUS, N.M. – A monthly charitable food distribution program is moving itself off of government property, effective immediately.
On the second Wednesday morning of every month, volunteers line up to unload 12,000 pounds of food when a truck arrives from the Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico. Volunteers then organize the food to be distributed to up to 225 families.
The program is sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande and organized locally by Sue Hutchins, Vicar of St. Luke's Church in Deming and also serving the church's Borderland Ministries in Columbus.
For two years, the mobile food pantry has been held at the former Columbus Elementary School site on North Boundary Avenue, in a facility now owned by the Village of Columbus.
Additionally, Diana Skinner, co-proprietor of the Los Milagros Hotel and a volunteer at the food pantry, said she brings donations to four families in Palomas, Mexico, with the permission of the diocese.
Starting in June the pantry will move onto private property adjacent to Skinner's hotel.
After a conflict with a former volunteer led to a visit by Mayor Esequiel Salas in May, Hutchins said she realized she had to move the program. "It's done; we're done," she said in an interview on Wednesday.
In June, the food will be distributed on the lot next to the Los Milagros Hotel, at Taft and Lima streets, with plans eventually to move onto property owned by the diocese.
Tensions erupted at a village council meeting on May 16, when Columbus resident Kevin Money presented a four-page written complaint to the mayor and trustees alleging Hutchins had improperly dismissed him as a volunteer and denied him service as a recipient of food from the food bank.
Money's complaint and his verbal presentation also leveled allegations at several other members of the community related to conflicts at the community center and the community garden. After residents Gordon Taylor and Don Farber (a former trustee) engaged Money in angry rebuttals before trustees, the council intervened to move the evening's agenda along and study Money's written complaint.
Money had also risen during a public comment period at the March 21 council meeting to voice concerns about the program.
Hutchins said that in March, she had confronted Money - who was both a volunteer and recipient of food - about hoarding extra food. She also confirmed, as Money had stated in his complaint, that in April she told him he would not be needed as a volunteer but could receive food.
She said that Money then became angry, arguing with her and photographing cars in which boxes of food were loaded to be delivered to people unable to travel into the village.
"I have never refused service to anybody," Hutchins said, but after that interaction with Money, when the May 9 distribution came, she told him he would not be served anymore. At that point, Money placed a phone call and minutes later, Mayor Esequiel Salas arrived to inquire about the situation.
Hutchins said Mayor Salas argued that the food pantry could not deny food to anyone if the program was on village property, and she stated her disagreement with that position. After arguing for several minutes, she said Salas and Money both left.
Although she had not heard from Mayor Salas since then, after that argument and hearing about Money's presentation to the council, she said she felt it was time to move the program off of government property.
Skinner, the wife of former mayor Philip Skinner (whom Salas defeated in the March municipal election), facilitated the move to the lot next to the Skinners' hotel until the church-owned property is ready to house the program. The first distribution at that location will be June 13.
Mayor Salas did not respond to a press query for this story.
A spokesperson for the Roadrunner Food Bank would not confirm or deny that the organization was investigating a complaint into the Columbus food pantry, stating, "It is important to maintain the confidentiality of clients and our partner distribution sites."
Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-546-2611 (ext. 2608) or [email protected].