CHICO — As Butte County scrambles to address the immediate needs of communities displaced or hungry due to the North Complex fires, grassroots organizations are employing local food strategies from lessons learned in the Camp Fire.
Some local resources truly became hubs after the Camp Fire left many hungry as well as homeless. A food pantry that began at First Baptist Church was once located in a small room, but after the fire, it grew bigger and bigger and soon required many more hands and a larger facility as the need grew.
With COVID-19 and the North Complex fires, the pantry is seeing more visitors each week than ever — up to 120 in one day, with about 2,000 served in September, according to organizer Linda Kliefoth.
The pantry still allows people to enter the church from noon to 5 p.m. each Friday with a sanitized cart, to choose from canned and dry goods, as well as some produce, refrigerated items and baby supplies.
At First Baptist Church in Paradise, a small food pantry grew into “an anchor” for folks after the Camp Fire, and grew bigger and bigger as need on the ridge became “tremendous” with #COVID19 and more wildfires. Linda Kliefoth explains what they have. @ChicoER pic.twitter.com/wSBjiAoU2y
— Natalie Hanson (@nhanson_reports) October 2, 2020
Fresh food donated from Holiday Mart and Save Mart in Paradise always goes first, as produce is hard to come by on the ridge, volunteer Staci deJesus said.
Kliefoth said the pantry gets donations from Contra Costa Food Bank and Feeding America every week, and some refrigeration items were donated thanks to Butte Strong grants.
However, deJesus said the pantry began “hurting” for enough food to meet the local need in the year after the Camp Fire — going from eight shipments a week to two — and only began to get more state help when COVID-19 struck. She criticized the state’s lessening aid when the community continues to be in need after thousands of homes have not been rebuilt.
“We were scrounging for food,” she said. “The need is not drying up at all, but the supplies dry up regularly.”
Local hunger has only increased as people struggle to rebuild or have lost their jobs in the pandemic, and deJesus said all of the area’s food banks try to work together to support each other and connect with more resources — “there’s no competition here.”
People always return to small grassroots food banks because of the personal connection and sense of trust, Kliefoth and deJesus said.
“For some this is their social outing. They’re coming in for a hug and we can’t give it to them,” deJesus said.
Others come for a sense of stability, knowing the help is local and their unique names and situations will be remembered –“Nothing here is safe or secure anymore,” deJesus said. “We’re one of the only things that is stable.”
“These people matter to us. It’s their anchor. And ours too.”
Musician Frank Martinez of Franklin’s Tower Mission Relief said what was learned in the 2018 fire has made local groups well practiced at networking aid. His group formed from the band Franklin’s Tower began connecting with aid sources within and outside the county to gather supplies, meals and toy drives for survivors, and they organized cook out events for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Martinez continues to do the same now during the North Complex fires, and is hoping to organize outdoor cooking events for the holidays again.
What makes handing out food trickier is the pandemic with current restrictions for protecting residents. That’s why distributions have turned to “tailgate” drive-through style events. Martinez’s group also has an open “wish list” running for people’s immediate needs, from food and baby supplies to clothing and tools.
Some are hubs for even more isolated communities. Brenda Rightmyer of the Yankee Hill Fire Safe Council runs the voucher program with Lakeside Market, with owner Paul Manjinder Hayer and manager Charles Luttrell. Their collaboration started with the 2017 wildfires and relies on funding from the market, and help from United Way and the North Valley Community Foundation.
Anyone living in an evacuation zone can get $15 vouchers at the market, for any items except for alcohol. In this round, 650 have been given out, and some larger families get more than one.
Rightmyer, who gets up to 60 phone calls a day, said the market is a hub for foothill communities because of its location, and her organization is trusted because they often help the same families and know many by name. Some even come back to Oroville while staying in Roseville or Anderson, she said.
“We have been through it and we know the journey they’re embarking on,” she said. “We can empathize with what’s happened and we’re familiar with a lot of the community members.
“A lot of resources pop up and then go after a while — we’re not going anywhere.”
Grassroots Alliance coordinator Justin Baker has also been involved locally starting since the Camp Fire, saying he has been frustrated by national responses to small areas that need help from organizations that stay local and understand the community.
“It happens over and over again — FEMA comes in and they don’t even check with local agencies there and what they need,” Baker claimed. He said this affects marginalized communities like migrants and indigenous tribes, who may be afraid to seek help from federal or state organizations.
Baker represents the small nonprofit Grassroots Alliance and works with Grassroots Aid Partnership, a larger hub that connects resources with small local charity efforts for disaster relief, forming a coalition of sponsors in the health food industry.
It is very important to him to use sponsors with items that “make sense” for the realities evacuees face — shelf-stable healthy food like organic milk that doesn’t need to be refrigerated, soap designed for various uses and small snacks like CLIF Bars.
Baker has been running up and down the state due to many fires, even taking a trip to southern Oregon this week to distribute in wildfire zones. In those areas, he said he witnessed grassroots efforts like local businesses that organize events for marginalized communities who have trouble connecting to local aid.
The same is happening in Butte County, where local businesses are pitching in to donate food or offering spaces for people to access aid.
“Just because there’s not a fire doesn’t mean the community isn’t as vulnerable,” Baker said. “Whenever these disasters happen, the way the local community responds is a special and beautiful thing. It’s like a birthing spot for people who want to help their community.”
Rightmyer encourages anyone in need of vouchers to contact her at 370-5302. Anyone contacting her with donations should reach out to Oroville Hope Center or Salvation Army. Cash donations can go to Lakeside Market or checks can be made out to Yankee Hill Fire Safe Council.
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Local food hubs earn trust bringing comfort to trauma-stricken Butte County - Chico Enterprise-Record
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