Food program exceeds Hunger Strike goal of raising $50,000

With a $2,000 check presented by The Shed owner Gabe Mendoza to Casa de Peregrinos (CdP) emergency food program Executive Director Lorenzo Alba, CdP surpassed its $50,000 goal for its third annual Hunger Strike fundraiser.

“It’s been a really incredible 24 hours,” Alba said Friday morning, Sept. 24, as the fundraiser drew to a close with a breakfast for this year’s participants at The Shed. The hunger strike began Thursday morning, Sept. 23, with breakfast at Josephina’s Old Gate. Between the two meals, this year’s 54 participants fasted as they used social media and other personal contact to solicit donations from friends, family and co-workers.

Alba and six others began the fundraiser in 2019, raising $38,000. It raised $42,000 last year, Alba said. His goal for 2022 is 100 participants.

Alba has been CdP executive director since June 2011. CdP was founded in April 1979 by four La Mesa residents: Manuela Moreno, Rosario Rodriguez, Alphonso de los Santos and Lucy Martinez. They set up in Moreno’s home and launched Casa de Peregrinos (“House of Pilgrims”) with $3,000 in the bank.

 In 2020, CdP distributed more than 4.7 million pounds of food, compared to 3.8 million pounds in 2019 and 3.5 million in 2018. In 2020, CdP served more than 35,000 individual clients, an increase of more than 5,000 (16 percent) as compared to the three previous years. It experienced an increase of almost 75 percent in families coming to its pantries in rural parts of the county. CdP served more homeless clients in September 2020 than it did in all of 2019. CdP distributed almost 3,000 more food baskets through its Food Security Program in 2020 than it did in 2019.

Donate to CdP at www.casadeperegrinos.org.

Or send a check to Casa de Peregrinos, 999 W. Amador Ave., Suite F, Las Cruces, N.M. 88005. Contact CdP at 575-523-5542 and cdplascruces@gmail.com.