Helping others in need during the 2020 holiday season

Fourth in a series. Throughout November and into December, the Bulletin will present information on ways you can help those in need in Las Cruces and Doña Ana County during this holiday season.

• Gospel Rescue Mission provides support and services for the homeless. Greatest needs are winter coats and caps, blankets, socks, men’s and women’s underwear. Donations of turkeys, hams, green beans, corn, yams and fixings are needed for both holidays. GRM provides thousands of meals and overnight lodging to men, women and children, and it provides new shoes and clothes to hundreds of children for back to school. Take food and other donations to GRM, 1050 W. Amador Ave. Donate online at www.lcgrm.org/how-to-help/donate or mail donations to Las Cruces Gospel Rescue Mission, 1050 W. Amador Ave., P.O. Box 386, Las Cruces, N.M. 88004. Visit Rock of Ages Thrift Store, 1420 S. Solano Drive. Visit www.lcgrm.org and www.facebook.com/lcgrminc. Call 575-523-7727 to volunteer or for pick-up of larger donated items. Email lcgrminc@gmail.com.
• El Caldito Soup Kitchen needs salad dressings, mayonnaise, cooking sprays, salt, pepper, sugar and other spices, as well as cheese and bottled water; turkeys for Thanksgiving, hams for Christmas and all the trimmings for holiday meals, including pies and cakes; also, paper goods: cups, plates, napkins, utensils and three-compartment foam containers. Take items to El Caldito’s back door, 999 W. Amador Ave. (Mesilla Valley Community of Hope), 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Sunday-Friday, 8 a.m.-noon Saturday. Contact Diane D’Ambrisio at 575-636-0423, 575-791-5381, elcalditosoupkitchen@gmail.com. Mail donations to El Caldito, P.O. Box 2833, Las Cruces, N.M. 88004. Donate online at elcalditolc.org. Volunteers are needed to prepare and serve food, wash dishes, clean, fundraise, work on-site and pick up food donations. El Caldito has served more than two million meals since it was founded in 1984. It serves more than 90,000 meals a year.
• Ninth annual Christmas Shoe Box Project for children in Palomas, Mexico: Southern New Mexico churches and groups and local New Mexico Department of Health employees take shoeboxes filled with gifts for children, along with coats and blankets to Palomas each December. Suggestions of items to include in shoeboxes: toy cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, kazoos, yoyos, etch-a-sketches, jump ropes, slinkies and babies’ simple pull toys (please, no toys with batteries or toy guns or knives); school supplies (pencils, pens, blunt scissors, pencil sharpeners, stamp and ink pad sets, solar calculators, coloring books and stories in Spanish); hygiene items (soap, combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion and washcloths, etc.); also: socks, underwear, mittens/gloves, warm hats, tee shirts, barrettes, toy jewelry, inexpensive watches, hard candy and lollipops (please put candy in plastic baggies). Use a shoebox or small plastic container, then choose a boy or girl for each box, ages 2-4, 5-9 or 10-14. Tape an identifying label to the top of the box. The box can be wrapped, but the lid must be wrapped separately for border inspection. You may also wish to put a short note in Spanish in your box. Take filled boxes or loose items to the drop box near the front entrance of the New Mexico Public Health Office, 1170 N. Solano Drive, by 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11. Contact Angie Sanchez Corral at 575-528-5123 or angie.sanchez@state.nm.us.
• Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico, a trusted local organization for more than 50 years, is headquartered in Las Cruces and serves Doña Ana and four other southwestern New Mexico counties, providing services so families facing adversities truly thrive, from Coats for Kids and youth entrepreneurship (Kids Can) to child nutrition programs to free tax preparation and small business development. Contact Mark Hohnstreiter at 575-527-8799 or markh@caasnm.org. Mail donations to CAASNM, 3880 Foothills Road, Suite A, Las Cruces, N.M. 88011. Donate online at www.caasnm.org.
• Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico supports many nonprofits in Doña Ana County and southern New Mexico and provides support to families in need through multiple funds. Contact Terra Winter at 575-521-4794, terra@cfsnm.org. Donate online at www.cfsnm.org. Mail checks to Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico, 2600 El Paseo Road, Las Cruces, N.M. 88001.
• CARE (Cancer Aid Resource & Education, Inc.) provides recently diagnosed, eligible Doña Ana County cancer patients with financial assistance for non-medical needs (so they can concentrate on treatment and recovery) like transportation, groceries/nutritional supplements, self-pay health insurance, utilities, rent/mortgage payments, phone and expenses if treatment requires out-of-county travel. Contact Yoli Diaz at 575-649-0598 or yoli@carelascruces.org. Donate at https://carelascruces.org or send donations to CARE, 118 S. Water St., Las Cruces, N.M. 88001.