About
St. Felix Pantry

Our Mission, Goals, & Values

St. Felix Pantry restores hope to families and individuals in need by providing food, compassionate support, and referral services in the Felician Franciscan tradition.

St. Felix Pantry was incorporated in 1992 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For over 30 years, St. Felix Pantry has been providing food for those with need in the community who come to us. The Pantry has established trust by being a resource for the most vulnerable, not only in Rio Rancho (the city in which St. Felix Pantry resides), but also throughout the State of New Mexico.

Our Core Values permeate every action we take and do. Those who come to us for food develop trust and relationship, and we help transform current situations into futures of opportunity and growth. Inflation has taken a toll on the families we serve. Many of our neighbors are struggling to pay rising rent increases and provide well-rounded meals on a daily basis. St. Felix Pantry is committed to helping anyone in our State who comes to us in need of food because of inability to purchase food during these difficult economic times.

Our Vision

In the tradition of the Felician Sisters, St. Felix Pantry will continue to feed the body and soul while helping our communities create futures of greater opportunity.

Corporate Compliance

Our Core Values

Respect for Human Dignity: our reverence for and commitment to promoting and protecting the dignity of persons.

Compassion: an empathetic consciousness of others expressed in caring service.

Transformation: the process that encourages an open mind and heart, leading to continuous improvement of the person and ministry.

Solidarity with People in Need: ensuring the needs of those we serve are met through advocacy and action.

Justice and Peace: forging right relationships, recreating a sustainable environment, and promoting the common good, in pursuit of peace.

Our History, Our Founder

The Founder and visionary of St. Felix Pantry, Sister Genevieve.

The Founder and visionary of St. Felix Pantry, Sister Genevieve, was born Julia Ryskiewicz, of Polish decent, in Mosinee, Wisconsin on June 3, 1923. There were nine children in the family and Sister Genevieve was the second oldest. Fresh bread for the family needed to be baked daily and as Julia grew older her mother would give her a loaf of bread to take to their next door neighbors who were going through some hard times. Sister Genevieve feels that sharing the loaf of bread and seeing what joy it brought to the hungry family was the beginning of her desire to work on behalf of the poor.

Sister Genevieve moved to Chicago many years later where she worked for a few years and then sensed the calling to the religious life. She wanted to join a Polish community of Sisters who took care of orphans, but instead she got on a street car that took her to the Convent of the Felician Sisters whose Franciscan order started in Poland in 1855.

After she completed her three years of training for the religious life she went on to complete schooling in the culinary arts. Sister Genevieve worked in Milwaukee, Rhode Island, Birmingham, and Centralia, IL. As the need became greater for dieticians in hospitals, Sister Genevieve took dietary courses at St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia to prepare for her new position. She eventually became the chief dietician in Centralia, IL and Corning, IA hospitals.

In 1953 about 125 of the Felician Sisters left the Chicago area province and began a new province in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Sister Genevieve continued her work as a dietician and also got involved in the Food Program and the Government Lunch Program. She opened the Convent doors to serve hot lunches to the public school children from nearby Woodlands School for five years.

After spending twenty-three years in Oklahoma she moved to the new Rio Rancho Convent in 1976. Sister Genevieve began to travel around the area to pick up day old bread from various businesses and gave the bread out of the trunk of her car. The need continued to grow and the pantry expanded to a one car garage.

It wasn’t long before two large buildings on Barbara Loop SE in Rio Rancho were acquired. One is the former Venezia Restaurant where the food is distributed to our clients and the other is an adjourning building where offices are housed. Who would have believed that from the trunk of Sister Genevieve’s car, St. Felix Pantry would emerge that feeds over 1,000 individuals each week. We are honored and blessed to carry on the legacy of Sister Genevieve’s dream to give bread and other food to the hungry and poor and to restore their dignity and hope.

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS

St. Felix Pantry is grateful for our Board of Directors who go above and beyond the call of duty for our great cause! Thank you!

Mark White, Chairman
Haesun Chung, Treasurer
Todd Beadle, Senior Ministry Adviser
Phillip Bustos, Director
Steve Garcia, Director
Katie Shaw, Director
Renetta Torres, Director

Tim Sheahan
St. Felix Pantry’s President and CEO

Our Volunteers

St. Felix Pantry is very appreciative of volunteers who share their time, energy and talents in our ministry. Volunteers are welcome to assist the staff in many ways and help serve in one or several of the following areas:

Food Pantry
Warehouse
Kitchen
Sorting

Volunteer Opportunities

731,635 Pounds of food donated in 2023

1,000+ Neighbors Served Every Week

Service to the community with compassion

12,036 Volunteer hours in 2023

Thank You Sponsors!

It is only through the ongoing support of the community that we can continue our success towards serving as a safety net for people struggling to support their families in times of crisis. St. Felix Pantry is grateful for the foundations, businesses, individuals, and other non-profits who share our vision of restoring hope to families and individuals in need.

OUR SPONSORS CONTRIBUTE IN A VARIETY OF WAYS.