"Feeding Taos County's Needy Families for 20 Years," Taos News article, 2005 (652KB PDF)

TAOS FEEDS TAOS CELEBRATES 20 YEARS
A brief history submitted by Eloy Jeantete

It was the year 1986, when Jim Ulmer, member of the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, came up with the idea of forming an organization to be called "TAOS FEEDS TAOS".

Because of the co-operation of the Veterans of Foreign Wars under the leadership of Commander Lawrence Vargas, Kiwanian President Jim Oakeley, Sgt. Francis Cordova, and the blessing of General Baca, head of the New Mexico National Guard, TAOS FEEDS TAOS was born.

The first year, with the help of the organizations listed above, the Town of Taos, under the leadership of Mayor Lawrence Santistevan, the Taos Municipal Schools, and all the other churches and organizations that had been preparing baskets, they were able to deliver and feed 300 families. The total expenditure was $12,000.00.

In the ensuing years from 1987 to 1991, the project delivered 3286 baskets with food expenditures in excess of $127,000.00.

In 1988 James Ulmer was honored by KOAT television station, for his leadership of the 1987 TAOS FEEDS TAOS program. In a competition among seven New Mexicans, "who gave their time and effort to serve their communities and our state", Jim won the national Jefferson Award.

On April 3, 1992, the "Grand Marnier Foundation", a non-profit organization that supports anti-hunger groups nationwide, sponsored and invited the entire Town of Taos to enjoy "Lunch on the House" for "Taos thanks Taos", for the excellent job that they did feeding the needy in December of 1991. A total of 5,075 persons were fed because of their generosity. (This statistic provided by Jim Ulmer.) That same year Jim was unable to continue the project because of poor health and war injuries. Kiwanian and Veterans of Foreign War member Felix Trujillo, together with his wife Alyce and Lawrence Vargas with many volunteers continued the project. They did an excellent job. Statistics for those years are not available.

Felix was also honored by KOAT and was awarded the JEFFERSON AWARD.

In 1997, Felix notified the community that he would be unable to continue the project because of poor health.

Gus Cordova, Town Manager, found out about the situation and gathered a committee of Taos citizens. They were all in agreement that the project should continue and gathered a committee that was the beginning of the current committee. Our current chairman is our State Representative Roberto "Bobby" Gonzales, Vice President John Otis, Secretary Geri Chacon, Treasurer Eloy Jeantete, Board Members Cheryl Hyland, Ernestine Cordova, Francis Cordova, Rita Santistevan, Pauline Mondragon, Janet Webb, and Mary Jeantete.

Other members that have served on our board are Rebeca Romero Rainey, Mabel Jeantete, and Rey Torres.

That year we started from scratch. We were able to raise $10,000.00 and distributed 300 baskets within a 2 week period.

WE called that event a MIRACLE.

Since 1997 we have delivered over 7000 baskets and the amount spent for food has been in excess of $500,000.00.

This project would not be a success without the support of the National Guard who have allowed us to use the Armory, the troops and the trucks to transport and deliver the food to outlying communities, also the public school children for the food and money contributions.

Lastly thank you Taos for the money and donations, and for your help in putting the baskets together. WE ARE A NON-PROFIT 501 c-3 CORPORATION.

The group’s t-shirt uniforms say it all: "Love JOY Peace."

-###-

Memories of Taos Feeds Taos's first year
Quotes from Lieutenant General USA (retired) Edward D. Baca

Back in 1986 I was head of the New Mexico National Guard. At that time the guard was focused on being prepared for war. When the cold war ended, my vision was to integrate the guard back into their communities, to serve the people they lived with. When Francis (Cordova) and Jim (Ulmer) approached me about using the guardsmen, the armory, and our vehicles to collect and distribute food to the needy in Taos County, I saw the perfect opportunity to accomplish all of our goals. Since that first year, whenever I travel to other states and interact with other National Guard units, I cite Taos as a model for good soldiering. Taos Feed Taos is an example of how the guard can, and should, interact with their community. By the way, each guardsman is participating totally on a volunteer basis.