The pandemic has been difficult for Irma, but free food is making things a little easier.

Food bundles are prepared at the Adelante Mujeres food pantry.

As the sun sets on the Adelante Mujeres building on Wednesday evenings, Lidia, from our Nourish the Community team, is just getting started. She leads the food distribution for the Adelante Mujeres food pantry initiative.  

Thanks to extra funds leftover from our farmers market food vouchers, this pop-up food pantry provides free food to participants in our Produce Rx Program, a program aimed at improving health outcomes for Latina women coming from low-income situations.  

For women like Irma, the food comes at a much needed time. She financially supports for her family of six, including her mother who has dementia. She's very cautious about staying in good health.

"I'm a diabetic, and I'm the person who supports my family. So if I got sick, who's going to help them?" says Irma.  

To help with her diabetes, a doctor at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center introduced Irma to our Program Rx Program, which she's been participating in for the last two years. Together, women in the program learn about healthy eating, participate in cooking classes, and share nutritious recipes.  

Irma says she's always known that eating organic produce is important for good health, but it's difficult because it's more expensive. And when the pandemic hit Oregon back in March, her financial stress increased substantially. 

Irma works with children at a school in Beaverton. Due to COVID-19, they closed in April for five straight months, and they don't receive pay during the closures. They re-opened in July, but have to close for fourteen days each time there is a COVID case in the building. That's happened three times since they re-opened in July.  

"It's been hard. With no pay, it's really hard. So this food is really helping me a lot," says Irma. 

Lidia hands Irma her weekly food from the pantry, including fresh salsa.

The Adelante Mujeres food pantry distributes food, sourced from local farmers to 32 families every Wednesday through December 9th. Each family receives a bundle of organic produce, eggs, and hot food such as tamales and fresh tortillas.  

Thanks to the extra funds, we’ve been able to distribute produce to four other food pantries in the area (NAMS, Centro Cultural, Virginia Garcia, and the Elks Program), supporting an estimated 400 families total.

"I want to say thank you very much for having this program," says Irma. "I've been in this program for two years and I'm looking forward to next year because I love berries, all kinds of berries. But right now, I'm really enjoying the squash and pumpkins. Thank you, thank you very much." 

Irma with a fresh acorn squash from the pantry.

Thanks to funds from the Washington County CARES Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, an additional pickup day was created for December 16, which will include the distribution of 40 whole turkeys -- in addition to produce, eggs, and tortillas -- just in time for the holidays.  

We thank all of our volunteers and funders of this initiative. You all are making a big difference for families like Irma's. Gracias.