Mag Strittmatter, president and CEO, Roadrunner Food Bank. (Roberto E. Rosales/Journal)
Roadrunner Food Bank. (Roberto E. Rosales/Journal)
Mag Strittmatter, president and CEO, Roadrunner Food Bank. (Roberto E. Rosales/Journal)
It was a jury-rigged basketball hoop hanging in the family warehouse that started Mag Strittmatter on his path to sporting icon status.
Strittmatter, president and CEO of Roadrunner Food Bank, went from playing with his older brothers and their friends (“I’m just an unlucky little sister”) to joining his high school team and averaging 27 points per game. When it came time to go to college, she became the first woman at Pennsylvania State University to win a Title IX scholarship.
Title IX, which turns 50 this year, is a landmark federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs and activities.
“It changed my life,” Strittmatter said. “The opportunity to be a student athlete and have that experience — it taught me about time management. I was the captain of the team, and that taught me about leadership.”
Strittmatter went on to do fundraising and development work for Planned Parenthood and the University of Colorado Foundation. Directly prior to coming to New Mexico, Strittmatter worked in the Denver area as executive director of The Action Center, which provides food, clothing, and other services to those in distress.
He was recruited to head New Mexico’s largest food bank starting in 2018. He has earned recognition for working with New Mexico lawmakers and other state officials to see hunger as part of a wider problem and to seek increased funding for five New Mexico members. Food Bank Association.
Under his tenure, Roadrunner distributed nearly 60 million pounds of food last year, the most in the organization’s 43-year history.
With two jobs related to social services, Strittmatter has found his passion. It stems from his own experiences with poverty and food insecurity while growing up on a rural Pennsylvania dairy farm. Her family includes six children and a father who has a permanent disability, making her mother “the breadwinner for a family of eight, at a time in the ’60s” when there were few support services.
“I saw the pain. I saw what he went through and for me, and as I got older the pieces started to connect,” Strittmatter said. “The pain of not having, but also understanding it’s not his fault, it’s not my father’s fault. It was a state of affairs, and having the opportunity to do something about it and be able to pay it back — that’s how I got into this job, and that’s why I stayed in this job for over 20 years.”
What is the biggest problem facing Roadrunner Food Bank today?
“How do we budget for the unknown? How do we budget when we face escalators that affect our work to the core, when you talk about food, delivery and fuel? We pay the freight to bring the product to us, in most cases. We try to be as conservative as possible in estimating what our cost per gallon will be. Currently, our supplies are running low. It’s like paddling in a river, and you start to see rocks. It is not good.”
How do you imagine dealing with this?
“The support we get from the state, from the (legislative) session, is invaluable. This helps us fill in the gaps. We got a special session funding of $3.6 million. A total of $5 million was divided among members of the New Mexico Food Banks Association. This is a gift. And we are constantly looking for opportunities. We have food sources on staff, and that’s what they do. They are constantly looking for products.”
Was there a particular moment of growing up in poverty that inspired you to do this work?
“That was probably kind of a thing in front of me, because you don’t know you’re poor until someone points it out to you. I remember we were sent to a Catholic elementary school. I am 9 or 10 years old. I have a sister who is two years older and a brother three years older, and we all attend school at the same time. The nuns … want to show ‘Lilies of the Field.’ To watch it, we each had to pay a penny. Well, we don’t have it. Someone who knew our plight was very happy to tell the nuns that we were too poor, that we couldn’t afford it. Everyone was watching movies downstairs in the lunch room, and we were sent to the classroom above the dining room and had to do homework. That’s when (I) had that realization.”
What was the transition from warehouse basketball to real teams like?
“They called all the girls into the (high school) auditorium in the spring and told us, ‘Guess what? This fall, we’ll have a basketball team.’ And it’s all because of Title IX. I thought I was dead and gone to heaven, because now I’m going to play against women, and I don’t have to be beaten by men. And that fall, my sophomore year, we had our team, The Highlanders. They didn’t have enough time to order uniforms, so we had to put on our tracksuits and pinnies, for God’s sake. But hey, we’re happy. We were out there.”
Do you still play or follow sports?
“I watched it. I watch over the women. In 2019, I returned to (Penn State) to visit the facility, meet the coaches. For them it is about understanding the beginning, and I represent that beginning.”
How does it feel to be a pioneer?
“I looked back, and I thought, ‘Wow.’ It’s not perfect, but it’s an opportunity, and that’s all you want, is a chance. And then advocating for other people to have that opportunity — that’s another thing, just making sure (you) add your voice to the conversation around things like Title IX, the importance of that.”
“I’ve never met a Reuben sandwich that I would refuse.”
“I would say Eleanor Roosevelt, because she is a woman born prematurely, and that doesn’t stop her. I admire him for saying, ‘I’m going to do this. I will say this. This is important.’ And that’s always a good reminder: Don’t mess around. To be safe, do I take care of myself but disappoint the people I help, whom I represent? There are times when you have to say out loud what needs to be said. And I know I’ve forced my expression on hunger here. And I’m not sorry about that either, because there are some realities we have to face.”
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“In college, I wasn’t the best free-throw shooter. I should have worked harder, and I’ll tell you why. Because I ended my career with 975 points and if I only made seven free throws every year, I would be the first person to reach 1,000 points in school. There’s nothing I can do about it now, of course, but geez. ”
BASICS: Margaret (Mag) Elizabeth Strittmatter, 65, born in Patton, Pa.; married to Marty Smith since 2014; two dogs, Gunther, a mix of Shih Tzu and Beau, a Morkie (a mix of Maltese and Yorkshire terriers); master’s degree in broadcast journalism and mass communication, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1999; bachelor of English/writing, Pennsylvania State University, 1978.
POSITION: President and CEO, Roadrunner Food Bank, since 2018; executive director and director of development and communications, The Action Center, Lakewood, Colorado, 2002-2018; director of development, University of Colorado Foundation, 1996-1998.
OTHERS: Board vice president, New Mexico Food Banks Association; committee member, state Food, Agriculture and Hunger Initiative; members, 2022 New Mexico Leadership class.
Founded in 1610, Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the third oldest city founded by European colonists in the United States.
Where in New Mexico should you not live?
These are the 10 most dangerous cities in New Mexico to live in Read also : Perry Food Pantry greets friends on Saturday in an open house.
- Roswell (population 48,623) Flickr/Clinton Steeds. …
- Hobbs (population 34,543) Flickr/Chuck Coker. …
- Albuquerque (population 553,684) …
- City of Silver (10,285) …
- Socorro (population 9069) …
- Taos (population 5722) …
- Farmington (population 45,328) …
- Artesia (population 11,389)
What city in New Mexico has the most crime? gallup. Gallup’s biggest area of concern is the high crime rate, as the city is the most dangerous place to live in New Mexico. It has the highest property crime rate and the second highest violent crime rate.
What is the safest place to live in New Mexico?
The safest city in New Mexico is Los Alamos, earning a very high Safety Index score of 0. See the article : Cost of living: How can I save money on my grocery shopping?.98 that outgrades every other community in the state.
Is New Mexico unsafe?
New Mexico has the lowest crime count of all states but has the highest crime per 100,000 people in the nation. New Mexico also has the highest rate of auto theft per 1000 people in the country.
What is the most common job in New Mexico?
Retailing is the most frequently performed job in Albuquerque, with 14,640 people in the position in 2014. GET ACCESS TO EVERY LOCAL INSIGHT, LEAD AND MORE! Food service was the second most common occupation with 9,940 people in 2014, and then customer service with 9,380 people in 2014.
What is the job market like in New Mexico? During the year, New Mexico’s total nonfarm employment increased by 39,900 jobs, or 5.2 percent. All of these gains were in the private sector, which rose 43,000 jobs, or 7.4 percent. The public sector fell by 3,100 jobs, or 1.7 percent.
What jobs pay the most in New Mexico?
Rank | Job title | Average salary |
---|---|---|
1 | Owner/operator | $169,619 |
2 | Emergency Medicine Specialist | $163,285 |
3 | Family Practitioner | $158,209 |
4 | Clinical Physician Assistant | $147,158 |
Who named New Mexico?
Naming New Mexico The Spanish settlers named the land Nuevo México (New Mexico) after the Aztec Valley on the Rio Grande River in Mexico. Contrary to popular belief, New Mexico is not part of Mexico. In fact, New Mexico was founded and named 223 years before the naming of Mexico in 1821.
Who founded New Mexico? More than 50 years after Coronado, Juan de Oñate came north from the Valley of Mexico with 500 Spanish settlers and soldiers and 7,000 heads of cattle, establishing the first Spanish settlement in New Mexico on July 11, 1598.
How did New Mexico get its name?
The name of the state is the English version of “Nuevo Mexico”, the Spanish name for the upper Rio Grande. Mexico, the Aztec spelling, means “the place of Mexitli” one of the Aztec gods.
How did New Mexico become New Mexico?
On January 6, 1912, New Mexico was accepted into the United States as the 47th state. Spanish explorers passed through what would become New Mexico in the early 16th century, discovering the well-preserved remains of the 13th-century Pueblo civilization.
Where did the name Santa Fe come from?
The name “Santa Fe” literally translated from Spanish means “holy faith”. Its full name when it was founded was “La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Assisi†– when translated it means â€Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi†.
What does Fe mean in Santa Fe? With a population of 70,000, Santa Fe, which means Holy Faith in Spanish, is the fourth largest city in New Mexico.
Is Santa Fe the oldest capital in the US?
Santa Fe, New Mexico Founded in 1610 – more than a century before the United States became a state – Santa Fe is the oldest state capital in the US. The Spanish Empire had occupied the “Kingdom of New Mexico” since 1540 and the first capital was located in San Juan Pueblo, about 25 miles north of Santa Fe.
Did Santa Fe belong to Mexico?
Spain’s closed royal policies also greatly influenced the lives of most Santa Feans during these years as trade was restricted to Americans, British and French. When Mexico gained its independence from Spain, Santa Fe became the capital of the province of New Mexico.