It's time for Santa Feans to place their bets: Which local high school will prevail in this year's food drive competition?

The second annual Mayor's Youth Advisory Board Food Drive begins today. The food drive is being organized by MYAB, a group of Santa Fe teens that, among other things, encourages youth participation in the community.

"One of our members came up with the idea and brought it to the board," said Caitlin Smith, a St. Michael's High School senior and vice-chair of the board. "We all thought it was a great idea."

In addition to raising a large amount of food donations for The Food Depot, which serves local agencies in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico, MYAB also hopes to raise awareness about the hunger problems that exist in the area.

"At some point, kids who we sit next to in class have probably skipped a meal because they don't have enough money for food," Smith said. "Especially living in New Mexico where we have one of the hungriest populations in the United States. It's important that we have compassion for each other."

Sherry Hooper, the executive director for The Food Depot, said that each week, approximately 40,000 people across the state seek help from food banks. She noted that many of those people are children and senior citizens.

The food drive is being sponsored by the City of Santa Fe, Warehouse 21, The Food Depot and Generation Next. Collection bins can be found at City Hall, Warehouse 21, every Santa Fe high school and The New Mexican's office building, 202 E. Marcy St.

Students have 21 days — that's only three weeks — to collect as much food as possible. The school that collects the most wins a free event at Warehouse 21. The winning school is determined by dividing the total number of pounds collected by the number of students in attendance.

"Heavier weighted foods usually have a much higher nutritional value," Smith said. "You get more bang for your buck."

Hooper said that over the last few years, The Food Depot hasn't had enough food donations to meet an increasing demand, and as a result has had to purchase some food for its partner agencies. The MYAB food drive could help alleviate this problem.

Last year, SER Academy won the food drive competition with an average of 5.88 pounds of food donated per student. A total of 2,863 pounds of food was donated to The Food Depot. This year, Santa Fe students are faced with the challenge of beating that number.

"We're happy to get whatever we get," said Viola Lujan, Food Depot program manager. "If everybody brings one can of food, that's a lot of food to distribute to families."

The Depot has 127 partner agencies that together operate emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, adult and child day-care centers, shelters, rehabilitation centers, youth programs and mobile food pantries. These agencies are located in Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Union, Taos, Colfax, San Miguel, Mora and Harding counties.

"Some of these counties are very remote and they don't have a lot of resources for food," Lujan explained.

The Depot depends on the generosity of the community, students included, in order to continue and provide services in those nine counties to people who need them.

Recently, The Food Depot launched a "Mobile Food Pantry" in collaboration with The University of New Mexico where a refrigerated truck travels to remote places such as Maxwell, Springer, El Rito and Wagon Mound to deliver food to communities that don't have a food bank.

Hooper said in a July 2010 article in The New Mexican that this service is helpful for communities who don't have the time, space or resources to run a food bank.

"It's important for all of us to help people who have food shortages or food insecurities because hunger is a big issue in New Mexico," Lujan said. There are numerous opportunities for teens to join in on the fight against hunger, she added.

"(Students can) continue to have food drives — not just during the holidays — people are hungry year round," Lujan said. "They can volunteer at any of the agencies, or they can help fundraise and raise awareness about hunger issues in New Mexico."

For more information or to volunteer, contact The Food Depot at 471-1633.

All donated items for the MYAB food drive should be nonperishable and should not be homemade. The Mayor's Youth Advisory Board Food Drive ends Oct. 21.

Tori Velarde is a senior at Santa Fe High School. You can reach her at tori@velardenm.com.