Emergency response officials say the effort to dig Chama out from under 6 feet of snow will take all $750,000 of the emergency fund set aside by Gov. Bill Richardson.

Luckily, good neighbors in Albuquerque and across the state are offering help with firewood, hygiene and household products, and water and food — because the town's only grocery store was destroyed when snow collapsed its roof.

The heavy snow — 151 inches since September, with 53 inches on the ground Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service — is some of the deepest Chama has experienced.

The town is on the path toward a record snowfall for the winter, the weather service says. Another 32 inches of snow would break the season record set in 1974-75.

Chama resident Martin Gallegos said it is perhaps the worst he's seen in his life in the town, with 6 feet of snow clogging his porch and drifts as high as 12 feet.

The National Weather Service says the recent weather set the record for the snowiest five days since 1948, when records were first kept. The previous record for five days was set in 1988, when 22.6 inches fell.

"It (this snow) covered us completely; so if you had a path already, it just covered it up," Gallegos, a retired NAPA Auto Parts employee and volunteer firefighter, said in a phone interview Wednesday.

"Emergency services are doing a good job, and the village, the mayor have been on top of things."

National Guard spokesman Maj. Ken Nava said residents such as Gallegos who kept up with the snow as it fell since early February were better off than residents who let it all accumulate.

"Every house has snow that is 4 or 5 feet high," Nava said. "People anticipating it and those (who) worked on the snow as it was falling are OK. People who didn't and let it fall probably aren't."

Nava and 25 other guardsmen were sent to Rio Arriba County to help residents there after Richardson declared the county a disaster area on Monday.

So far, Nava said, the troops have delivered firewood and checked propane levels at several houses.

Peter Olson, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said about 10 bundles of medicine were delivered to needy residents.

Truckloads of food and supplies collected at the American Legion Post 49 in Albuquerque and at Los Alamos National Laboratory were expected to start rolling into the town Wednesday afternoon and continue to arrive today.

The food will be taken to the Town Hall, where residents can pick it up themselves or call to possibly have it delivered, if they are still stuck on roads that have yet to be cleared.

The town's main grocery store was shut down after snow collapsed its roof Tuesday morning. Other roofs, including that of a Catholic church, also collapsed.

Construction of a temporary grocery store is under way at a vacant warehouse, Olson said, but it is unlikely to be completed until late next week.

Meanwhile, good neighbors such as Steve Miller of Albuquerque, who regularly vacations near Chama, said donations will continue if needed.

"It's our favorite small town," Miller said.

And Camille Braddock, one of about 100 people to donate food and money to the American Legion on Tuesday and Wednesday, said support should go to neighbors, no matter how far away.

And help they did.

Legion donation organizer and veteran Susan Crutcher said several medium-size trailers were filled less than 24 hours after word of the collection efforts began airing on Albuquerque TV news reports.

Local stores, such as Fair and Square Food Store, donated items and money. Some big box stores charged full price, she noted.

"We didn't know it would be this big," Crutcher said. "We thought of the children and babies suffering and decided to do something."