Food and fellowship

PORTALES - The free food is a good start, but it's the fellowship with family, friends and community members that's really the draw at El Rancho's annual free Christmas lunch.

Jamie Garcia, wife of Joe Garcia, who owns the Portales restaurant along with parents Ruben and Sara, said the free lunch, now in its 15th iteration, is mainly a family event both for the Garcias and other families in the area.

"It's a family event for sure. The coolest stories are that we have some families that have made this their tradition if one family member lives in Arizona, the other in east Texas, they meet in the middle here and that is so amazing that we can provide for families that are far away from each other," Jamie Garcia said.

"The food is important but the connection with other people is more important. It really provides a sense of community and family."

Garcia told The News the event started 15 years ago when she was pregnant, adding another child to her husband's family that was already so large they would host family events at the Memorial Building because no one restaurant could hold them all.

"We were just so overwhelmed with our blessings that we wanted to provide something like that for other families in the area," she said.

Garcia said the buffet of eastern New Mexico staples like enchiladas, taquitos, posole, beans and rice appeals to a wide-range and large number of people, estimating that anywhere from 300 to 500 people are served during the three-hour event each year.

"Sometimes elderly just don't have family in the area anymore, sometimes college students can't go home, sometimes military just landed here and they haven't even unpacked their kitchens," Garcia said.

Jim Davis and his wife DeAnna said they attend the event almost every year, volunteering by filling up drinking glasses after they partake in the meal.

"I think it is a wonderful tradition and I think the Garcias should be blessed immensely the rest of the year for providing this to the community," Jim Davis said.

Ashley Foster was getting her first taste of the event this year.

"It's awesome to be out here with your family and see everybody in town. You run into friends and stuff when normally you would be just be at home with your family; now you get to see everybody," she said.

Eva McAfoos said she started volunteering when he husband Melvin was the chief of police in Elida and she needed something to do on Christmas day. Now that he's retired they both volunteer at the meal, with Eva enjoying "the people, the smile, the love and the laughs."

Garcia said this was the first year that her husband's family held a family reunion in the summer instead of during Christmas, so they had a few more volunteers than normal.

"There's honestly so much help that we're kind of tripping over each other," Garcia said. "And we never know who's going to show up to help and we never know who's going to show up to eat, it just always works out and there's always enough food."

The meal is free, though Garcia said some patrons expecting to pay for their lunch will donate, with the funds put towards next year's event.

Hollis Key's assessment was one likely to be shared by many.

"There's only one complaint, that it's only once a year," he said.