Growing the Table Provides Free, Organic Produce to Farmworkers’ Families and People Experiencing Homelessness
Assemblymember Robert Rivas and Growing the Table Founder Kat Taylor showcase bounty boxes filled with delicious, organic produce as part of statewide efforts to help growers feed their own food-insecure families.
Food insecurity has only worsened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for farmworkers’ families and those experiencing homelessness. Advocates with Growing the Table, a pilot program that has delivered 138,000 pounds of fresh produce to food-insecure families throughout the Central Coast since May, hope they can raise funds to continue serving whole foods grown by Latinx and Indigenous organic farmers to under-resourced populations long-term.
“The pandemic showed us just how fragile our food system is," said Kat Taylor, founder of Growing the Table. "Our hope is that the partnerships and hubs forged under Growing the Table will endure beyond the pandemic and constitute a neural network that can increase economic bargaining power, aggregate for scale, access centralized services, and advocate for policy change.”
In a week of action, Growing the Table, the Homeless Garden Project, the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA), Food Bank for Monterey County, Community Food Bank of San Benito, Epic Farmshop, Housing Matters, Homeless Persons’ Health Project and the Office of Kat Taylor rallied to strengthen connections between predominantly Latinx organic farmers and local under-resourced communities, helping these growers feed their own food-insecure families.
“We are one of the hungriest counties,” said Melissa Kendrick, Executive Director of Food Bank for Monterey County, where the National Guard tirelessly packs produce for local students and families in need. “We consistently rank dead last in California, which doesn’t make any sense when you look around and see all the beautiful veggies and fruits being grown here.”
The Central Coast is one of the world's largest salad bowls, feeding millions around the world. Yet tens of millions of pounds of fresh produce rotted in fields during the pandemic, while a record amount of Americans faced prolonged hunger. Many of these hungry families are farmworkers, who work tirelessly in the fields growing and harvesting the very food they themselves are not able to afford.
Among other places, the Monterey Food Bank delivered boxes to Santa Rita school in Salinas, where children of farmworkers and fieldworkers come to school.
“It was heartbreaking to see how many people showed up,” said Nadia Rosen, Founder and Executive Director of Epic Farmshop. “There were always lines and not enough boxes to feed everyone.”
Growing the Table has raised around $280,000 for Monterey Bay, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties. Advocates hope the program will continue into 2022.
“This needs to be an example and a model of what we need to do to eliminate all food deserts in the state of California,” said Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Salinas), who visited with ALBA farmers on Monday and chairs the Assembly Committee on Agriculture. “One food desert in California is one too many.”
Both sides of the food equation are critical — a resilient and equitable food supply chain and robust food security for all.
Food insecurity is underpinned by the fact that both Monterey and Santa Cruz suffer from some of the highest rates of individuals experiencing homelessness in California. Monterey County is the childhood poverty capital of California, with more unhoused students than San Francisco and San Jose combined. The farmworkers and their families in this area often struggle to find housing they can afford. Meanwhile, Santa Cruz has one of the highest per capita rates of unhoused individuals in California.
"The Homeless Garden Project's Feed Two Birds program supports trainees in our transitional employment program to provide healthy, organic produce to food-insecure neighbors in Santa Cruz - addressing several interconnected community needs,” said Darrie Ganzhorn, Executive Director for the Homeless Garden Project. “Through the Growing the Table partnership, the Homeless Garden Project is helping to shift the supply chain to create a more equitable and sustainable food system.”
Recently housed individuals, Adrella and Yolanda, receive Growing the Table’s fresh produce weekly, expressing pure delight at the quality and tastiness of produce grown nearby at the Homeless Garden Project - especially the strawberries. They expressed praise and looked forward to trying new recipes. (Kale, on the other hand, that was a different thing altogether, they joked.) The reliable delivery of veggies has inspired both Adrella and Yolanda, to adopt more healthy eating habits, hoping to prevent more intrusive doctor visits later.
Statewide, nearly 850,000 lbs of fresh, whole foods have been provided to food-insecure families and individuals through Growing the Table.
