Food insecurity has only gotten worse since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for those in the fields who earn low wages while feeding the rest of America.
In the past year, hundreds of Salinas families have relied on the donated food boxes, but many worry it still isn’t enough.
Recent food donation efforts were made by Growing the Table, a pilot program that delivered locally grown food to food-insecure families throughout the Central Coast since May.
They have donated more than 138,000 pounds of food to families in Salinas and in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties.
However, with the end of this 15-week program scheduled for October, the hope is that Growing the Table can obtain the necessary funding to continue serving families long-term.
On Monday, Assemblyman Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) joined farmworkers like Guillermo Lázaro at the Agricultural and Labor Training Association (ALBA) to discuss the fundraising needed to extend the program into next year.
“If we find some people who can help us, that’s the only way we can grow the business,” Lázaro said. “I don’t want to be rich, I just want to have dignity, a house, my family and help continue growing food.”
One of the biggest goals of the pilot program is to ensure farmworkers are among the first to access the food they grow.
“When you talk about the work they do and bringing the world’s freshest produce to market, it’s ironic that this group of workers can’t even afford this food at the grocery store,” Rivas said.
Another goal is to raise awareness and shift demand from the food supply chain to local farms.
“The pandemic has shown us how fragile our food system is,” said Kat Taylor, founder of Growing the Table. “Millions of pounds of fresh produce rotted in the fields as record levels of Americans faced prolonged hunger.”
Farmworker Yadira Mendiola says local organic farming has dropped in sales during the pandemic, directly affecting farmworker jobs in Salinas.
“We are running short because we have a lot of supply, enough to feed so many people, but if we are not recognized, we can never make a difference,” Mendiola said.
She hopes people will support locally sourced organic products in grocery stores.
“We are facing the monsters. We are not against the big companies that have more clients,” said Mendiola. “People should lose their fear of buying higher priced organic products because there really isn’t much difference, we are still below conventional market prices.”
Most importantly, he says, the hope is that the program will continue to function.
Growing the Table has raised about $280,000, which was mostly secured by individual donors, but advocates say they hope the program will be state-funded soon.
“This should be an example and a model of what we must do to eliminate all food deserts in the State of California,” Rivas said.
To donate, visit Growingthetable.org.