New Mexico State University’s Latin America Programs (LAP) brought boxes of meals and groceries to their room in Garcia Center on Feb. 24 and 26. Within minutes, students poured through their door to pick up vital food and ingredients; emptying LAP’s coffers.
LAP, in coordination with Casa de Peregrinos, hosted their “Grocery Giveaway,” open to all Aggies in the community. As of the 2025-2026 academic year, a semester of tuition alone will cost an average of $4,279 for in-state undergraduates and an average of $13,442 for out-of-state undergraduates. Even with federal financial aid and scholarships, some students may still have to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket. Because paying off that tuition is a priority for many, food insecurity among the student population is a top concern in the NMSU and Las Cruces community.
LAP organizers announced their initial giveaway day on social media so students could be informed about the opportunity.
“We’re proud to partner with Casa de Peregrinos to bring groceries to our students,” LAP wrote on their Instagram post for the event. “Join Latin American Programs for our Pop-Up Grocery Giveaway! Take what you need and grab easy meal recipes too. Please bring your own bag if you can.”
Intern and student lead of LAP Giselle Trevizo was one of the volunteers helping distribute the food to students. Trevizo said that students could not only show up in n-person to the event, but also sign up for future food deliveries.
“Because we did an agency pickup (with Casa de Peregrinos), they literally gave us everything,” Trevizo said. “From burger patties to chuletas, beans, even mangoes, lettuce […] pretty much everything. And we’re also doing another type of program where if a student wants to come and sign a form, we’ll start mailing a ready box of groceries, for them specifically. And we’ll deliver those food packages every two weeks”
Trevizo added that the resources LAP offered are critical for Aggies of lower income brackets who faced food insecurity.
“I just feel like it’s a good resource for many of the students,” Trevizo said. “What we’ve seen is that students don’t eat because they have to pay for tuition, or they have to pay for other stuff. Especially here at the dorms, not everybody has a full kitchen or is able to afford a meal plan, you know?”
Another volunteer at the event, LAP coordinator Vibianno Gonzalez, spoke about their group’s cooperation with Casa de Peregrinos, which made the giveaway possible.
“Casa de Peregrinos is the local food bank for Las Cruces,” Gonzalez said. “So, they also do pop-ups at DACC, and they also support Pete’s Pop-Up Pantry. They provide food, and people can go to their location on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to pick up that food in person. But they also offer different groups to sign up as agencies so that, essentially, we can go pick up the food from there and bring it here. Then, people can come to us instead of having to go to their office.”
Although programs such as Pete’s Pop-Up Pantry are reliable sources of food, Gonzalez encouraged other student organizations across campus to come together and host more frequent pop-ups for the community.
“I would encourage them to collaborate with us,” Gonzalez said. “Food pop-ups and food access have been a really big intersection for community organizing, dating back to the Black Panthers and the Brown Berets. And especially for us, who work with populations that aren’t really seen first, but we [Hispanics] are usually the ones that grow the food and pick the food. So, I definitely always encourage people to break bread with each other, learn with food, and share with the community.”
