San Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen
San Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen
Founded by three sisters, San Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen has been active in serving the needs of the poor and hungry in the Española Valley and surrounding communities since July of 1992. We are located in the center of the low-income housing community of Apple Valley. The clients we serve receive little or no additional food assistance so the meals and food boxes we provide are crucial to their basic needs.
Although our dining room facility is currently closed due to the pandemic, we continue to serve Sack Lunches at the door, five days a week, Monday through Friday. These include hot soups, casseroles, etc. We serve an average of 100-120 patrons per day (25 of these clients are in-ambulatory; these meals are delivered), and provide food boxes on a weekly basis to other needy families who are referred by a church or other partner agency. In addition, we provide perishable and non perishable goods to other Agencies so they can distribute as needed. These Agencies distribute food to Pueblos and other poor rural areas. We also distribute 550 Holiday Food Boxes annually.
In 2022, we provided a total 41,145 meals. In 2023, we had an increase of approximately 37% in our clientele and served a total of 56,330 meals. To meet the needs of our clients, we have made our daily menus easier for our volunteers to prepare and serve, and we have increased the number of emergency meals we have on-hand to use as a backup if we do not have enough meals for a specific day. We have also increased the number of our ready-to-go food boxes to have available as the requests come in. Filling the needs of the poor and hungry of the Española Valley and surrounding communities is an ongoing project and our main mission.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_____
The Santa Fe Community Foundation invited its nonprofit grantees to submit stories related to our January topic of Health & Human Services.
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
Last year, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian opened Carved Stories by Hopi artist Mavasta Honyouti. Featuring all sixteen low-relief carvings from the Coming Home series — created in tandem with Honyouti’s children’s book Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Story — the exhibit recounts his grandfather Clyde Honyouti’s experience at an off-reservation federal boarding school. This Indigenous-led project offers a powerful and visually compelling reflection on Hopi life, culture, and history. As Brian Vallo notes, “Carved Stories… is both powerful and beautiful.”
Kha'p'o Community School
With support from the Native American Advised Fund, sixth-grade students at Kha’p’o Community School embarked on Our Voice, Our Stories — a year-long documentary project blending traditional Tewa arts and modern digital storytelling. Through pottery, weaving, sewing, and film, students explored their cultural identity and celebrated their voices as young Tewa people.
Truchas Services Center Preschool
The Truchas Services Center Preschool serves children from all the surrounding communities, providing supervision and appropriate curriculum for children ages 3 to 5 years old. The mission of the Pre-School program is "Children learning through playing".
