“We’re really just trying to kind of keep it top of mind for people in the area,” Melissa Casias’s niece said of her disappearance

Melissa Casias.Credit : New Mexico State Police/Facebook

NEED TO KNOW

A New Mexico mom, 53-year-old Melissa Casias, has been missing for more than a week
She dropped off lunch to her daughter shortly before she disappeared
Casias is classified as a “missing endangered” person by the New Mexico State Police

A New Mexico mom vanished after she dropped lunch off to her daughter, and now search efforts are approaching the second week.

Melissa Casias, 53, was last seen on June 26 at around 2:15 p.m. local time as she was walking southbound on state road 518 from Talpa, and is classified as a “missing endangered” person, the New Mexico State Police said in an advisory bulletin. Authorities did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

This week, Casias’ family told CBS affiliate KRQE that she headed to Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she works as an administrative assistant, that morning but forgot her badge which allows her to enter the building.

Instead, she decided to work from home and brought food to her daughter, who was at the John Dunn Shops in Taos. She left the area just before 1 p.m., KRQE reported. Casias’ daughter became worried when she returned home and saw that she’d left behind important personal items like her work and personal cell phones, purse, keys and wallet.

That same day, the family heard that a person saw Casias walking alone on the road, which was confirmed by doorbell cameras along State Road 518, according to the outlet.

“No positive news right now,” Jazmin McMillen, the missing woman’s niece, told KRQE. “We’re really just trying to kind of keep it top of mind for people in the area.”

The outlet reported that hundreds of volunteers, officials and family members have searched for Casias in the days since she was seen walking on the side of the road.

A Facebook page that was created to help with the search describes Casias as “a beloved mother, daughter, sister and friend.” A GoFundMe page has also been formed to help raise $5,000 for an award for information about Casias’ disappearance. (Organizers of both pages did not respond immediately to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.)

“We want to keep Melissa’s disappearance in the public eye, and encourage people to share what they know,” wrote the organizers. They extended their thanks for the community’s help so far.

“The focus needs to be on finding Melissa and we all need to come together,” the organizers continued.

Casias was last seen wearing a white and turquoise shirt and blue jeans. At 5 feet, 4 inches tall, she has brown hair, brown eyes and weighs 125 lbs., police said. Anyone with information about her whereabouts is urged to contact the New Mexico State Police at 505-425-6771.