KFOX El Paso- Study: 1 in 3 El Paso children hungry

Jacob Rascon-KFOX14 News Reporter

EL PASO, Texas -- About 86,000 children in El Paso don't get regular, healthy meals, according to a national Feeding Families study.

That's about one in three children under 18 years old, compared to the national average of one in four.

"Four years ago that number was around 76,000," Ruben Sanchez with West Texas Food Bank, the largest in the borderland, told KFOX-14. "With adults and elderly in El Paso, that number is 220,000, and then there's the disabled."

KFOX-14 visited Reynolds House, a shelter for single mothers and their children, and met Paulette Rueda.

"It is hard being a single mother without any help," Rueda, 23, said. "It's hard and then places like this, shelters...they encourage you to do things on your own."

Rueda moved into the shelter with her 3-year-old daughter, Ebony, three weeks ago after paying the bills, rent and day care became "just too much."

Eleven families live at the shelter with 26 children combined. Families stay an average of six months, its director said.

The director said summer time this year means not very many donations, as usual.

Rueda opened one of the cupboards at the shelter and said, pointing to a shelf, "The baby foods are right here, but right now we're out."

Rueda has a job, and is eligible for food stamps, but other women at the shelter can't work and aren't eligible. The woman at the shelter share some of their food.

"We have to get together," Rueda said. "Like a team."

Sanchez said last June was the worst month for donations that West Texas food banks have ever had. He said the holidays usually mean big donations, but not other times of the year.

To contact the Reynolds House shelter, call 915-274-2598.

To contact West Texas Food Banks, call 915-248-6136.