The first home that Margaret Bluck Gonzales lived in was a tent on her family's property on the west side of Santa Fe on Brae Street.

"My mother told me that we had to live in a tent until I was six-months-old while my father built our two-room house," she recalls. Margaret's father, Harry Bluck, was a carpenter by trade. He worked tirelessly for half a year to ensure that his wife, Margaret Cappler, and their six children had a place they could call home.

Although building a house one brick at a time could have been a daunting task for some, Harry Bluck was able to quickly provide shelter for his family. According to Margaret, her father moved to Santa Fe from Denver to help rebuild the old St. Michael's High School after the fire of 1926 on College Street, now known as Old Santa Fe Trail. "My father's family was originally from England ,and they settled in the Denver area in the 1800s. That's where he met my mother," she says.

Margaret, who was born in 1932, was the youngest of the Bluck children. She attended Catron Elementary, Wood Gormley, Harrington Jr. High and graduated from Santa Fe high in 1952. A year after graduating, Margaret went to work for the New Mexico State Library, where she worked for 30 years until her retirement in 1983.

As she explains, "I started out binding school textbooks. We had to drill holes and then bind each book by hand. Later, I worked in the catalog department, making sure that all of the books were in their proper place."

In 1975, Margaret married John Gonzales, whom she met while recovering from a car accident. "I was hit from behind on lower Cerrillos Road where the old Yucca Drive-In used to be. I suffered a bad case of whiplash so I went to see the chiropractor Isidro Gonzales and that's where I met his brother John," she remembers. The couple were married for 10 years before his death in 1985, they never had children.

While mourning her husband's death, a friend suggested that she get involved with the Food for Santa Fe depot to keep busy and for the last 23 years that project has not only helped her through her sad times, it's helped thousands of people in their time of need.

"When I started, we were putting together 600 grocery bags, but it's doubled now, and it keeps growing," she says.

Food for Santa Fe, Inc is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization whose mission is to provide supplemental food on a regular basis to those in need. Located on Siler Road, the organization gets its food from local and regional food banks. Food for Santa Fe relies on donations to keep its efforts afloat, not only from gracious donors but from the people who come each week for their bag of groceries.

"We have one woman who comes every week and drops $5 in the donation box and refuses the grocery bag, she says that we helped her in her time of need, and now it's her turn to help others. Her $5 donation provides two more bags of groceries for those who need it. With every $2.60 we collect we can provide $15 worth of groceries," Margaret explains.

Margaret, who is 78, has been on the board of Food for Santa Fe for the last 10 years, and is the vice president of on-site donations. It's a job that she truly enjoys especially since she knows that her efforts help children. "When a car drives up and we see children, we make sure that they get fresh milk, cereal, raisins, string cheese and pudding in their bags," she says.

Through her work at the Food for Santa Fe, life for Margaret Bluck Gonzales has come full circle; her humble beginnings living in a tent have brought her closer to those in need.

Ana Pacheco's weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Sunday she can be reached at 505-474-2800.