Month: August 2026

Lynette Niebla

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) – As school doors swing open for the 2026–2027 academic year, thousands of local students are returning to class facing a severe, hidden crisis outside the classroom: childhood hunger.

New data reveals a dismal reality for families across the region. Imperial County now leads the state of California in food insecurity, with one in five residents lacking reliable access to affordable, nutritious food.

Tragically, the numbers are even higher for local youth, where more than one in three children experience hunger.

At a staggering 34%, Imperial County’s childhood hunger rate is nearly triple the California state average of 13%.

To fight this, the Imperial Valley Food Bank (IVFB) is rapidly scaling up its response, expanding its weekly Weekend Backpack Program to reach more than 1,600 students across 58 schools.

The program, which is marking its 23rd year of operation, has evolved from a small initiative at a single school in 2004 to a massive countywide pipeline serving youth from kindergarten through high school.

Sara Griffen, Executive Director of the Imperial Valley Food Bank, noted that the demand has skyrocketed recently.

“We’ve seen a rapid uptake since the end of COVID, to the point that we used to be around 700 or 800 and now we’re at 1,600 students,” Griffen said.

Every single week for 35 weeks of the academic year, the program delivers eight to ten pounds of fresh and shelf-stable food directly to children. A dedicated team of 10 to 20 volunteers, mostly retired local teachers, gather at the food bank to pack the items, keeping operating costs as low as possible.

The food menu is strategically selected to include roughly 12 tailored items that kids can easily manage on their own, especially in households with limited cooking facilities.

“Easy-open meals, like spaghetti, mac and cheese, that the kids can microwave themselves and prepare,” explained Cari Augusta, IVFB Distributions Manager and Weekend Backpack Coordinator. “We want them to enjoy their food for the weekend.”

For educators and food bank organizers, protecting the dignity of the participating children is just as vital as providing the nutrition. The program relies heavily on a network of on-campus school counselors, nurses, and teachers to discreetly identify students who show signs of food insecurity.

To prevent peer stigma or bullying, the food is distributed in completely nondescript bags.

“The first week that we give out food, we do give an actual backpack. It’s very generic-looking and it has a bag inside that has food for the weekend. And then every Friday, we have a bag refill,” Griffen said. “It’s one of those problems that nobody wants to talk about, and especially kids…You just don’t want to be called out for that.”

The educational benefits are backed by science. Academic data consistently proves that proper calorie intake directly correlates to cognitive development and classroom success.

“There are lots of studies about the amount of calories a child needs for cognitive processing,” Griffen emphasized. “When a child is undernourished, they cannot learn the same as someone who is fully nourished. [The backpacks] help those children come back to school on Monday being nourished and ready to learn.”

Augusta added that the difference can be seen clearly on report cards saying, “I’ve heard from educators that test scores go up when kids are fed three meals a day…If they don’t have those meals on the weekends, the backpack program is even more important now.”

Sustaining the expansive program has become an uphill battle. Organizers say a combination of severe post-pandemic inflation and recent federal and state cuts to SNAP benefits (known as CalFresh in California) have driven an unprecedented wave of families to the food bank’s doors.

“Plus the inflation with everything costing more, some of the SNAP benefits being reduced in some families, so there’s definitely more [need] than ever for this program,” Augusta said.

She noted that while the food bank has secured food orders through December, they must raise enough money to place a second major bulk purchase to sustain the program through the spring semester.

Compounding the financial pressure is the fact that the Weekend Backpack Program operates entirely on local empathy.

“Mainly in the funding because it is privately financed. There’s no government subsidy for the Weekend Backpack Program…it’s local people who care and contribute,” Griffen explained.

Griffen remains candid about the limitations of a nonprofit acting as a temporary safety net, noting that childhood hunger cannot be wiped out permanently without solving the economic root causes affecting the region.

“Hunger, it’s not an easy fix. It’s a symptom of poverty, so it isn’t something that a rural nonprofit like us can fix,” Griffen said. “We need more jobs and more diversification of jobs in the Imperial Valley in order for more families to have higher incomes. We have a lot of low-income jobs and very high [income jobs] and not a lot in the middle, and so that kind of describes our society.”

Until those systemic economic shifts occur, the food bank is turning to local residents to ensure no child spends their weekend hungry.

It costs exactly $250 to fully sponsor and sustain one student’s backpack for the entire 35-week academic year. To help meet the rising demand, a prominent local philanthropist has stepped up to challenge the community.

Jack Tyler, a 91-year-old native Imperial Valley volunteer has established a formal matching grant.

Through January 2027, Jack Tyler will double the impact of all first-time contributions made to the program.

Under the match, a single $250 donation is instantly amplified to $500, meaning one donor can effectively protect two local children from hunger for the entire school year.

The food bank is currently distributing adoption and donation cards throughout the community to encourage residents to take part.

To sponsor a student, volunteer to pack bags, or learn more about having your contribution doubled by Jack Tyler, visit the Imperial Valley Food Bank Page.

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Jessamyn Dodd

CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA) – Diana Nuricumbo is seeking reelection. She was elected to the Calexico City Council in December 2024 during a special election to fill a vacancy. She now wants to serve a full four-year term.

Nuricumbo aims to continue the work she is already doing for the City. She says she wants to continue the work she’s already doing for the city. One major undertaking is The Border Circulation Plan.

“We can move the border traffic away from Imperial Avenue and just have one way out instead of the current bottleneck that’s being created on Second Street because it’s really affecting our local businesses and access to the outlets and our downtown area,” Nuricumbo said.

The council member and candidate acknowledges that the city still has a long way to go in terms of running smoothly.

“We have certain things that I believe are not too efficientas far as the the whole organization and how it’s currently operating with the staffing. Some departments have more staffing than they should, some have less,” she explained.

“I think that in order for it to work regardless of who comes in and who comes out politically, there should be something set in-house,” she added.

As for what she is most proud of, one thing she says was a big accomplishment is pushing for funding for the new river when the state was looking at giving Calexico less funding than San Diego’s Tijuana River would receive.

She said, “I went to the meeting with the state water board, and I told them, hey we have the same situation and and we have the biggest need. Because San Diego is is is good economically, and Calexico and Imperial County isn’t.”

“We were able to get into that meeting to get to be seen,” she added.

To her fellow candidates, she has these words of advice: “All the candidates need to start having a more open mentality about the bigger scope of things instead of just small little groups and sectors because otherwise it’s never gonna change.”

The 2026 midterms are set for November 3.

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Lauren Duffel

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – If you’re in the market for a new place to call home, it’s important to be aware of online listing scams targeting new renters and buyers.

Scammers are advertising properties they do not own or have permission to rent. They copy legitimate listings, then repost them at a lower price to pressure potential renters or buyers into acting quickly.

Local realtor Matias Rosales knows this scam all too well after one of his own listings was copied and reposted by a fraudster.

Rosales said, “This past week, I had a listing where two people called me and said, ‘Hey, I see your sign. You’re advertising it for a lower amount on Facebook,’ and I said, ‘Well, that’s not us.’ So we tell people to report it to Facebook as a fraud post, and hopefully Facebook or Meta will remove it.”

The Yuma Police Department (YPD) is warning residents not to send any money until a listing has been verified.

If you believe a listing is a scam, you can report it to YPD or any local law enforcement agency.

Officer Hayato Johnson of YPD said, “Also, if you’re looking for properties, verify that they’re for rent before you start doing any paperwork, handing over personal information, or even sending money.”

We also spoke with investigative reporter John Summer, who specializes in real estate fraud and home title theft. He says anyone who owns property is a target of this scam.

Summer said, “No one is not vulnerable to this. It can be a home, a piece of property, open land, someone’s Airbnb, or a property they’re not watching, like their grandmother’s home. Everyone, anywhere, can be a victim.”

Property owners can take extra steps to protect their home titles, including using a monitoring service that alerts them to suspicious activity, like Home Title Lock.

If you come across a listing that appears to be fake, report it immediately and watch for red flags before sending any money or personal information.

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