Food for People, Feeding Low-Income Families

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Hunger… it’s an epidemic that affects almost 15 percent of Californians and Humboldt County is no exception. This fact is especially true for one Fortuna woman and her family.
 
The way life was stacking up for Elisa Rodriguez made her mull over moving away. “We didn't know what we were going to do. Sometimes we were like, should we go back to Mexico?,” Elisa reminisces.
 
Her husband has been unemployed and she’s doing everything that she can to keep the family afloat. “Right now I am actually babysitting for extra,” she adds.
 
Besides babysitting, her family is dependant on her disability insurance, “A lot of crises because of work. So not a lot of jobs around,” Elisa says.
 
However, there is a little bit of help. Elisa and the dozens of families who came out to Fortuna today picked up boxes of tomatoes, lettuce, and pears from Food for People’s Free Produce Market.
 
Heidi McHugh is the Community Educator/Outreach Coordinator for Food for People. “A lot of families simply cannot afford to put fresh produce on their tables,” Heidi claims.
 
Health experts say fresh fruit and vegetables are the kinds of foods that can help combat dietary related diseases. “My husband is diabetic so he needs to have as much vegetables as possible,” Elisa says.
 
Food for People provides the market once a month in 4 locations. The non-profit also helps people apply to CalFresh. “Which can give them a more regular stable way to access more nutrition,” Heidi says.
 
It’s been a year. Elisa is still on disability but her husband has found a job, “Here it’s more promising land and to be in a better place is here,” she says.
 
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Kay Recede
kiemkayr@gmail.com

 
Food for People: www.foodforpeople.org or 445-3166