Trust the Process: Building Roots by Being Together

April 17, 2024

Walking into La Raza Community Resource Center on a hot San Francisco summer day last year, we were immediately greeted by an extra layer of warmth: the enthusiastic welcome of La Raza’s staff and pantry volunteers. Nestled in the historic Mission district on Valencia Street, La Raza is a trusted one-stop shop for food and social services that’s been serving the Latinx community since 1979.

a man and a woman holding produce and food pantry itemsa woman handing out celery

Collaborating With Community 

In partnership with the Food Bank, La Raza holds a farmer’s market style food pantry for the community on Wednesdays, serving roughly 330 families each week. Volunteers worked in tandem, passing out leafy greens, onions, plums, and many other dry pantry items. Even in hot weather, it wasn’t enough to slow down their determination to meet the needs of their participants – all with smiles and kindness. Whatever neighbors are seeking assistance with – be it weekly groceries, diapers, or parenting classes – they know they’ll find answers, support, and a friendly face here. a smiling woman with sunglasses holding a box of produce

“It’s always word of mouth – ‘Come here!’ It’s a very trusted space, especially for newcomers,” said Zabrina Olivares, a case manager in La Raza’s Family Advocacy and Social Services department. Though she’s a newer staff member, Zabrina has witnessed first-hand how this legacy of trust with the community has cemented La Raza as such a crucial support system for neighbors in the Mission.

Trust as the Foundation for Success

La Raza’s immigration services are just one example of how trust and relationship-building create better outcomes for community members. In-house immigration attorneys can advocate for and walk with neighbors through their immigration journey, while case managers connect neighbors with other support services. This holistic approach makes a huge difference for neighbors like Carolina, a participant and pantry volunteer at La Raza.

“La Raza is one of the most complete community centers available. It has a lot of services that help with immigration, counseling/therapy for immigrants, and assistance with rent,” Carolina told us. After experiencing threats of violence to her family, Carolina left her home country of El Salvador with her two daughters. The services she found through La Raza provided a supportive launch pad while she found footing in her new home, San Francisco.

two women having a conversation while setting up a food pantrytwo women looking at a box of romaine lettuce

Barriers to Food Security

Creating food security for Latinx community members is a central tenet of La Raza’s work – and this has only become more challenging in recent years. “I’m witnessing that more people need food. During COVID, and especially after COVID, food got more expensive,” Zabrina shared. Our community is being squeezed on all sides by the steep cost of living, including childcare, gas, utilities and more. This fact is underscored by the Food Bank’s participant survey, which found that 83% of those surveyed report being worried about running out of food each week. Additionally, government support is declining,
including the slash in CalFresh benefits last year.

“Food stamp (CalFresh) funds have decreased, but even with that, many of our population aren’t eligible for food stamps,” Zabrina shared. With this in mind, La Raza supports other food access solutions for community members: “We are also an Emergency Food Box site, a partnership with the Food Bank, where participants call ‘211’ and can receive a box of food when the need is extra urgent.”

With a three-day supply of shelf stable food, these boxes are an important resource for people in crisis with no immediate way to access food. On average, the Food Bank supports La Raza with 20-30 Emergency Food Boxes per month. Folks can access this service once every twelve months, and while there aren’t any requirements, it’s helpful to call ahead for availability.

two women holding a large bag of onionsa group of staff standing in a circle having a meeting

Towards Self-Sufficiency for the Latinx Community

While the Food Bank is squarely focused on ending hunger and advocating for solutions to the root causes of hunger, many of our partners – including La Raza – take a more holistic approach to supporting their community members.

Core to La Raza’s mission is empowering their neighbors with self-sufficiency and agency, many of whom migrated to this land for better opportunities. Empowerment can take many forms. One effort La Raza is focused on is advocating for policies like Immigrant Parent Voting. This law allows noncitizen parents to vote on measures that affect their children’s welfare in public school.

As case manager, Zabrina encourages parents to get involved: “This is affecting your child’s education and who you want and don’t want in there. I remind them that this is part of self-sufficiency, advocacy, and empowerment. This is your power, your vote, and to feel part of your community. And that’s something that we encourage a lot here – to be part of your community – be together.”  It’s this sense of agency and power that informs all of La Raza’s work, and one that permeates the attitudes of volunteers, participants and staff alike.

Carmen Callejas, La Raza’s current Pantry Coordinator and a former La Raza participant, shared that her trust in this community is informed by her own story of reaching self-sufficiency: “I learned to respect the community, and especially that the work is for them. There is nothing better than that. Working with love and passion to help people out is invaluable.”

logo of La Raza CRC

Camp Fire Relief | Bay Area Food Assistance Continues

January 28, 2019

“I got up that morning at 8:30 and looked outside and it was pitch black,” said Jean Bauman, a retiree who lived in Paradise, California. “I went back into the bedroom and I said to my husband Jim, ‘You’ve got to get out of bed.'”

At first, Jim and Jean were hoping the Camp Fire would be contained before reaching their small home. What they didn’t know was that the raging inferno was devouring an entire football field of land every second.

IT WAS TOO LATE

An hour later, fiery chunks of debris were pelting the couple’s home. When it was all over, they were left with nothing but their brick chimney and charred sludge and debris. “We lost fifty years of everything in that house,” Jean said. “It’s numbing.” The couple is now navigating insurance to begin rebuilding their house and their lives.

Help has arrived in the form of weekly food distributions, bolstered by weekly deliveries from Bay Area food banks that have been providing tons (literally) of fresh groceries every week.

“We had a suspicion that once things settled down in Paradise, that the community was going to need some food assistance,” said Barbara Abbott, Food Resources Director at the Food Bank.  “The call eventually came in December, and we have been sending full truckloads of fresh produce, protein, beverages and snacks ever since.”

THANKFUL FOR FULL BELLIES

The food assistance is starting to make a difference, helping people like Martin and Ashley feed themselves, as well as their two young children, Lilliana and Rylee.

Martin moved his family from Kansas to Paradise to help with his ailing mother after she recently suffered a stroke. And while the family didn’t lose any property in the fire, they did lose stability. Martin was due to start a logging job the day the Camp Fire started. Logging jobs have since dried up and now the family finds itself visiting the food distribution site in nearby Chico to help provide nourishment until things get better.

“The food got us through,” Ashley said. “It’s been filling in the gaps.”

While Martin hasn’t found a job yet, he’s still searching every day and he’s confident he’ll find something soon.   “It’s a lot easier to go to sleep and focus on finding a job when you know your kids aren’t hungry,” he said. “We’re thankful for having full bellies.”