ELK GROVE (California) CITIZEN

November 20, 2009

Food bank reaches out to migrant farm workers

By Cody Kitaura - Citizen Staff Writer

Elk Grove’s migrant farm workers dislike wheat bread or canned refried beans, just ask Elk Grove Food Bank executive director Marie Jachino. The first month she tried to provide food for migrant families, most asked instead for white bread and dried beans.

The food bank’s Mobile Pantry program, which started last May, opens on the second Friday of each month at Point Pleasant United Methodist Church, a small church in the rural area southwest of Elk Grove.

The program provides boxes of food for 30 families who have trouble making the trip into the city for the Food Bank’s regular programs, Jachino said.

On a recent Friday, Jachino stood in the church’s crowded kitchen and watched as volunteers simultaneously signed in families, distributed clothing and handed out boxes of food filled with pasta, dried milk, produce and a special addition: turkeys.

She said the program is important because farm workers “make so little and work so hard.

“It reminds me why I do this job,” Jachino said.

Church volunteer Sally Torres said the program is important because migrant farm workers face challenges brought on by constantly traveling.

“The fact that they are traveling families is a big burden on the families and kids,” Torres said, adding that volunteers “know it’s a genuine need and not just people who are working the system.”

The U.S. Department of Education’s Migrant Education Program determines eligibility for the program.

Marea Elmore, a Migrant Education Professional with the Migrant Education Program, said most migrant workers in the Elk Grove area farm grapes, pears, cherries, or work on dairy farms. She said the number of migrant workers is shrinking.

“A lot of families are returning to Mexico or are not moving (to the United States) because of the economy,” Elmore said.

Sara Medina, a mother of four originally from the Mexican state of Guanajuato, said through an interpreter that her husband has worked on the same Elk Grove farm for 25 years. She said the Mobile Pantry program is helpful because work is scarce.

Charlotte Mitchell, executive director of the Sacramento County Farm Bureau, said in a later interview that while the worsening economy has put pressure on local farmers, the biggest threat to their existence is urban growth.

“The (trend) for urban sprawl has put considerable strain on our farmers who produce food,” Mitchell said. “Housing developments don’t want to live next to a farm.”

Rosa Avila, one of two volunteers who prepare most of the boxes given out in the Mobile Pantry program, said preparing the boxes, which this month contained about $45 in food, takes about two hours.

“We used to be farm workers also, so we know what they want,” Avila said, recalling her time as a junior-high-school-aged farm worker in Sacramento, Davis, Dixon and Fresno.

The Elk Grove Food Bank has requested a $25,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente for a refrigerated food truck and increased funding. Jachino said if it’s awarded, the Mobile Pantry program will be expanded.

Many of the visitors to the Mobile Pantry would likely welcome an expansion. Jachino said they are so grateful for the help it provides that many of them stay and help clean up, often not leaving until the volunteers do.