High Desert community rallies to provide food to hungry families
YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ) – Families in the High Desert are receiving assistance from a grassroots fundraiser called 'The Desert Provides.'
According to organizers, many High Desert families are underserved. The lapses in funding to SNAP/EBT – also known as CalFresh in California – has created challenges for many of the community's vulnerable residents.
That's why, a couple of weeks ago, a chef in the Yucca Valley area, known as Chef V, called upon the community to rally to help. Together with other volunteers, the community raised hundreds of dollars in the form of Grocery Outlet gift cards for families in need.
"People need help. And I, as a mother and a chef, felt called to help out with the food insecurity in our area," said Vavine Tahapehi, otherwise known as Chef V. She began organizing the project about one week ago, and since then, generous donors have pooled together roughly $1,300.
That money went towards about a dozen gift cards – most of which have already been distributed to families in need.
The Flamingo Heights Community Center is the spot where organizers are distributing the gift cards. V acknowledged many families in the High Desert don't have access to a car, making it difficult to pick up the gift cards; as a result, three other volunteers have stepped up to deliver the gift cards, too.
The president of the community center, Justin Merino, affirmed, "As long as the need exist and folks continue to donate, we’ll continue to distribute the cards."
Ashley Flores, a single mother of two young boys, was one of the recipients of the assistance. She regularly receives $700 in CalFresh benefits, but when the government shutdown impacted that supplement, she said her anxiety grew.
"Having to determine whether I have enough cash to cover that or whether there's enough money in savings, do I pay some bills and not others?" she recalled asking herself.
Her eldest son, Logan, goes to school in Landers. Flores said about 90 percent of the families who go to Logan's school also rely on SNAP benefits. When she heard about the fundraiser the community was heading, she told five other families.
"I sent the info to five other families that I know really, really could use the support. And they've all received gift cards through The Desert Provides. And I know that it's been a huge help and it's really relieved a lot of that burden for us."
