St. Felix Pantry

Serving the Poor with Food and Education in the Southwe t

Through the ministry of St. Felix Pantry in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, the Felician Sisters work to provide hope to those in need. Open from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday through Saturday, the pantry provides food, clothes, education and social referral services. On Mondays, St. Felix Pantry operates a remote pantry serving food desert areas of Peña Blanca, Jemez Valley and Cuba, traveling 200 miles round-trip to provide assistance. The remote pantry is a joint venture with Sandoval County that provides nutritious fresh produce and dry goods to native Americans residing in centuries-old pueblos as well as to others seeking food and hope. Sr. Angela Parkins, pantry director, said the situation of each person who comes to the pantry is different. “I see a lot of elderly; a lot of crippled people. They are of all different nationalities; all people in need.” The food pantry in Rio Rancho serves about 130-150 people a day with the help of a large corps of volunteers, currently totaling about 135. Volunteer coordinator Peggy Barr works at the shelter five days a week, handling schedules for both community volunteers and those required to do community service. “Our group of volunteers is amazing,” Barr said. “They are always willing to help wherever it is needed.” Included in the number of daily guests served are members of a growing homeless population, which may be less noticeable in Rio Rancho than in northern cities because of the warmer weather, which allows many homeless people to sleep in their cars. Barr also packs food bags for the homeless – including two or three kinds of protein such as tuna, spam or canned beans, as well as jerky, granola bars, fruit and small cartons of milk that do not need refrigeration – and toiletries bags with deodorant, soap, lotion, shampoo and wipes. Children’s bags, which are given to every child who comes to the center, include a fruit cup, granola bars and a bag of fruit snacks. Building Community Volunteer Lynn Kern, who does the morning stocking of canned goods, breads and desserts as well as packaging for large families, said that in addition to providing food to guests, “because of who we are, we also provide hellos and how is your family … they also get a kind word,” she said. Their guests touch the hearts of the pantry volunteers who spend time with them each week. Kern remembers meeting an older couple who began coming to the pantry. When the husband, who was a World War II veteran and was ill, celebrated his birthday, the pantry got him a cake and sang to him. “We were able to comfort her when he did pass away,” she said. “She comes in every week; I see her around Rio Rancho. It’s just the kind of place where you develop that” kind of a relationship. Barr keeps a close eye on one homeless guest, Charles, who struggles to get by but has a beloved dog named Grace. “If we do get dog food in, I try to save some for her, and a couple of treats,” Barr said, adding that she provides him extra shirts, hats and socks from the clothing area, even purchasing gloves herself to ensure he is warm. She also especially remembers how the pantry helped one woman who went into the hospital and when released, learned the person she was living with had died after a heart attack. His check for his share of the rent bounced, and she lost her apartment. She moved in with her son during her recovery and now in her 70s, is looking for a place to live and a part-time job. Through its social referral services, St. Felix Pantry can provide help and direction to this woman and others like her. “I love the fact that our volunteers are neighbors; they’re community members. They work, eat, breathe, live in Rio Rancho, and so do our guests,” said development director Rachel Miletkov. “It’s neighbors helping neighbors.” St. Felix corporate secretary John Schumann assists Sr. Angela with

managing the remote pantry and the pantry’s growing education initiative, as well as handling reports and correspondence.

“I’ve learned a whole lot from being here; I’ve been so blessed,” Schumann said, adding that he enjoys the team environment, particularly pointing out the efforts of Mauro Torres Ginez, “our MacGyver” who handles vehicle and building maintenance and renovation. “It’s a joyful place.”

Sr. Juanita Szymanski joined the pantry in August 2019, serving as mission leader – preparing prayers and reflections for board meetings as well as leading prayer with the volunteers prior to the start of each day. She also assists in the clothing area, where donated materials are received, receipted, sorted and put on display. “It’s a joy and a privilege to work in this ministry,” she said, noting she had previously served in formation and education, and wanted to work directly with the poor. “It’s a joy when families come through with their children. I love to talk with them.”

She also loves that the pantry helps

Mission leader Sr. Mary Juanita Szymanski shows a guest a sweater at the clothing closet at the St. Felix Pantry in Rio Rancho. Guests may pick a selected number of items of clothing and housewares when they visit.

with spiritual needs in addition to physical needs. “They not only get food for themselves and their families, but conversation with each other and with us. They respect us, and we respect them,” she said, adding that Sr. Angela works right along with the volunteers and sets the example of respect for all. addition to adapting to a new clientele, to living at a higher altitude and to driving in Mexico, among other things, “I think I’ve learned how to be more compassionate to other nationalities. You have to have respect; you have to be calm; you can’t get excited about things,” she said. “You have to do what God is calling you to do.”

Sr. Angela, who had visited the pantry’s founder, Sr. Genevieve Ryskiewicz, 30 years ago when she was establishing the kitchen, believes that while it has touched the lives of countless guests and volunteers, working at St. Felix Pantry has changed her as well. In

Extending its Reach In January 2017, the pantry received a $160,000 grant from Sandoval County to establish a remote pantry serving the county’s food desert areas around Pena Blanca, Jemez Valley and Cuba. Margaret Vigil, who has lived near Cuba for 49 years, sees the benefits of the mobile pantry, reminding friends and other residents of the opportunity through her volunteer work at the senior center.

When they heard about the pantry, “we were very excited because there are a lot of needy people here,” as well as from the reservation, with about 40-50 coming any given day, Vigil said, adding that “the atmosphere is very friendly and non-judgmental.”

“They provide us with very fresh fruit and vegetables in abundance, and

also they bring us eggs and real fresh meat,” she said. “It is very important to us because there are a lot of needy people here, and some don’t get food stamps. They provide us with a lot of nutritious foods that our bodies need.” Doris Gallegos, site supervisor at the Sandoval County Senior Center, which hosts the mobile pantry, said the pantry is “a great help to those who are in need. … I think without them being here, there would be a lot of families and elders who would not be able to get the food and vegetables that they supply.” In addition to serving guests, the volunteers bag groceries for seniors or others who are unable to come to the pantry. Stephanie Witt, site supervisor at Jemez Valley Community/Senior Center, agreed, noting that the pantry serves a wide area including both the Jemez and Zia pueblos. “There is not a store up here, and it’s an hour either way to town,” adding that some of the guests cannot drive, “so this gives them the opportunity every other week to get fresh fruit and vegetables.” fruit. It’s all good food, healthy food, and I appreciate it.” Volunteer Martin Brennan, who serves guests in Rio Rancho, agreed that they are appreciative: “It’s rare that they don’t thank us. … They feel treated like good people, like they should be,” he said. “The environment here is loving. I come to work here, and within an hour, Sister comes in and just starts hugging everybody. … You can only pass along that which you have. We receive it here, and we pass it along.” “The pantry is a great place to give your time,” agreed volunteer Velma Tunno. “You meet the greatest people; you serve people in need – and that’s important to us, to find somebody who has a need. … It’s not to make

Corporate secretary John Schumann loads pallets of food in preparation for a mobile pantry.

ourselves feel better but to know that we made a difference in that day. That’s all you can ask for.”

Guadalupe Lucero, an elderly guest from the Jemez Pueblo, said he enjoys the visit from the pantry volunteers. “They are all good people; they are friendly. They bring a lot of fresh

Giving a Hand Up Schumann sees education as the future of the pantry: ““Three years ago we decided that we needed to do more than just feed people; we needed to help people to fish for themselves,” he said. On Sept. 5, 2017, the day Sr. Angela became president, St. Felix Pantry began an educational program to provide students a highschool equivalency diploma. The program used is HiSET (High School Equivalency Test), which helps students at the pantry, 60% of whom are dyslexic, complete their diploma. The pantry has developed relationships with trade unions, employers and Central New Mexico College to ensure its graduates have opportunities to continue becoming self-sufficient.

A broader curriculum of classes is offered to the community as a whole, including classes in computers for beginners and Spanish as a second language. Plans are underway to add courses in citizenship, financial responsibility and English as a second language.

Michelle Lewis, who serves as educational coordinator for the pantry as well as the teacher for the HiSET classes, recruits teachers, prepares schedules and works with higher education institutions. She believes that the young people who come to complete their degrees are victims of a failed school system.

“I tell my students: you didn’t fail school; school failed you. We didn’t meet your needs as a public school,” adding that as a public schoolteacher, it’s a hard thing to say.

“Many of our kids come from homelessness, they come from drug addiction, from single-parent homes - if there is a parent in the home - and it’s sad, because they don’t have a trusted adult,” Lewis said. “And when they come here, they feel like they’re part of a family, or part of something bigger, because we celebrate every success, regardless of what size it is.”

She recalled two young women who were homeless, living in their car in a Wal-mart parking lot for two months. “The pantry really embraced them, not just educationally, not just foodwise, not just with supplies, but holistically.” On Thanksgiving, they moved into an apartment and passed their HiSET exams in January. “They are ready to be enrolled in school, and one wants to go into a trade program. That’s exciting to me because these two little girls could have been dead.”

In two years, 30 students have completed the HiSET program; three are registered to complete their testing and four more are preparing to register. “We are not just looking at academics but how do we help this person get on the track that they need to be on, because they’ve taken that first step. We just sometimes have to walk next to them for a little while.”

No One Should Go Hungry in a Land of Plenty

The St. Felix Pantry began with the idea that no one should go hungry.

Its founder, the late Felician Sr. G e n e v i e v e Ryskiewicz, came to New Mexico and the newly established Rio Rancho Convent in 1976. She was the second-oldest of nine children born to a Polish family in Wisconsin. When her mother baked fresh bread each day, her mother would give her a loaf to take to their nextdoor neighbors, who were going through some hard times. Sr. Genevieve Ryskiewicz

Sr. Genevieve later said that the sharing of that loaf of bread and seeing the joy it brought to that hungry family was the beginning of her desire to work with the poor. “Sharing that loaf daily did something to my heart,” she said. “That experience never got lost, and the desire to help the less fortunate grew stronger as the years went by. God must have been preparing me for these years.”

After moving to Chicago and accepting the call to religious life, she completed schooling in the culinary arts and dietary training, eventually becoming chief dietitian for Felician hospitals in Centralia and Corning, Iowa. the Chicago province to begin a new one in Ponca City, Oklahoma. She continued her work as a dietitian and became involved in the Food Program and the Government Lunch Program, opening the convent doors to serve hot lunches to public schoolchildren from nearby Woodlands School for five years.

In 1953, Sr. Genevieve was one of about 125 Felician Sisters who left

After 23 years in Oklahoma, she moved to the new Rio Rancho Convent and almost immediately began traveling to nearby businesses to pick up day-old bread, distributing it from the trunk of her car, after which her “mobile pantry” found a home in a one-car garage.

Soon, the Sisters acquired two large buildings on Barbara Loop SE, a former restaurant that became the food pantry, which now assists 1,000 individuals a week, and an adjourning building that hosts a clothing distribution as well as offices.

Incorporated in 1992, the pantry has provided a safety net for area individuals and families for nearly 30 years, including single mothers, the elderly, veterans, those with low incomes and the homeless. With needs on the rise due to job losses, increasing food and fuel costs, and recent cutbacks in welfare and health care benefits, the pantry offers clothing, household items, referral services and most recently, educational classes – along with respect, compassion and empowerment.