VC Defensa Volunteers Help Meet Increased Demand for Food Following ICE Raids
Mina Wahab
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — VC Defensa Volunteer Leo Martinez says the demand for food deliveries has shot up, and the attendance at many food distribution sites has dropped. “Our volunteers are having to load up their cars with all the extra food at the end of the food distribution and going out to do deliveries, whether it be in neighborhoods that we know are in need or as part of our network of already existing families that we’re trying to serve, that we’re directly affected by the first raid,” said Martinez. Prior to the ICE raids, the volunteers would go to food distribution sites to pass out “Know Your Rights” flyers to community members. Now, they’re focused on delivering the food to some of the community’s most vulnerable. “We’re running to the box, food stores sometimes are going to local distributors, and that’s where we put together our bundles and we buy in bulk dry beans, dry rice, dry pasta, and then we mix it in together with a lot of canned proteins and we try to put together bundles of meals that at least are cohesive and go together.” Yvonne Lomeli says it’s the farm workers who are struggling the most, as they’re skipping days of work in the fields out of fear of deportation. She’s helping to feed the workers she says dedicated their lives to feeding the community. “We get big bulks of thing, the bulk of beans and rice, and then we have volunteers by hand, putting them in like quart size bags and then really like distributing and putting these things together,” said Lomeli, a VC Defensa Volunteer who wears many hats. It’s not just food they’re delivering. It’s also basic hygiene necessities like diapers and toiletries. Yvonne Lomeli says it’s bringing dignity to families that have been stripped of their humanity. “It’s just one tiny stress off of a family’s plate that has already experienced so much trauma. And that’s actually a lot of the work that we do. It is not about it’s not about so much support in the thriving. It is literally support in surviving the day-to-day.”
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