Mara Kerkez rummaged through her desk for nuts and cereal bars when a student walked into the Welcome Center asking for a bite to eat and information about food stamps.
"She told me she was hungry, and she wanted to know if UNM had anything comparable to, like, a soup kitchen," said Kerkez, a representative at the center. "I asked her for her circumstances, but she was reticent to give me any of her personal details."
Kerkez said several students have come to the Welcome Center recently to find information about food stamps.
The number of food-stamp recipients in the northeastern quadrant of Bernalillo County, the area including UNM and surrounding neighborhoods, has gone up almost 60 percent in the last year, said Betina Gonzales McCracken, spokeswoman for the New Mexico Human Services Department. Albuquerque participants have increased by 28.7 percent, and the increase is 18.5 percent in New Mexico overall, McCracken said.
"I can't speculate as to whether students are being affected by this or not," McCracken said. "I just know that we are seeing an increase in the food-stamps participation - and we have seen that over the past year - so we do believe that's part of the economic downturn."
Students can apply for food stamps at the UNM Public Interest Research Group office in the Student Union Building, but they must take the completed application to the Income Support Division for northeastern Bernalillo County at 4330 Cutler Ave.
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"One of our PIRG members got involved in a program that was in place in which people could actually literally sign up for food stamps here at this location," PIRG President Sean DeBuck said. "That program, specifically, isn't in place anymore, so we still have food stamps and we still provide them here, but they have to go turn them in themselves.."
To be eligible for food stamps, students who live on their own can make no more than $13,524 a year, McCracken said.
DeBuck said anywhere between one and six students come into the PIRG office every day for food stamp information.
"It's been pretty consistent actually, the number of people that have come in for food-stamp applications," he said.
DeBuck said providing food stamps supports students in need.
"Obviously, we're not exactly the richest demographic, and I think it provides them with the opportunity to help get them through college," he said. "It's just a small help. I think that a lot of people have (a) misperception about food stamps, and they think we're just handing out lots of money."
Kerkez, unable to scrape together enough snacks for the impoverished UNM student, said she decided to research the food-stamp application process for students.
"I went online . and I found out how to get her food stamps . and I also gave her the address of the Roadrunner Food Bank and I gave her money for the bus," she said. "She came back about two or three weeks later and she thanked me. She had gotten the food stamps and she had familiarized herself with the food bank, and that was it."
