On March 6, Edison High School’s Friday Night Live (FNL) chapter hosted its first on-campus food distribution drive. They had wagons and bins filled with bags full of canned goods, snacks, and other non-perishable food, as well as a resource table that provided hygiene products and additional support materials. The food distribution drive was a collaboration with Edison’s Farmers Market, who offered low-cost produce such as mangoes, avocados, grapes, apples, potatoes, onions, and more.
The chapter started planning the food drive last fall by researching what issues were prevalent in their community. A big issue was identified: food deserts.
“Edison High School is located in a region that is a food desert, meaning there aren’t any grocery stores or any accessibility for the community to be able to get groceries,” said youth organizer Montse Ayala Llamas.
“It’s really important that we have something at a regional school that everybody knows about where people can come to pick up food for free,” she continued. “Being able to provide food for families here is really easy, it’s really helpful, and it allows people to get healthy foods.”
The Edison FNL chapter worked hard on organizing a food distribution drive to help their community. They gathered donations from the Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART) and Live Again Fresno, receiving more than $500 worth of groceries. They also hosted a food drive at Edison to gather more donations.
Within 20 minutes, the free donations ran out and the farmers market had very little produce left.
“It only took 20 minutes for the food to run out, meaning that there is a huge need for the community to be able to get this food,” Llamas said. “I think if we did have a lot more food, we would be able to help a lot more families, so I just hope that people realize that access to food is a necessity in our community.”
Edison High School resides in the 93706 ZIP code where 37.7% of people are living in poverty – 48.4% of those people being under the age of 18. A little more than half of the residents living in the area are also unemployed. With the prices of groceries and the cost of living increasing, the youth and community are struggling more than ever. Having food drives, food distributions, and low-cost produce is important for all communities. This is the kind of support and help people need right now.
Abraham Ramirez, a senior at Edison, was able to get food to help feed his family. “The economy right now is not doing so good for people in the middle to lower class, so having a place to go to get free and affordable food for ourselves and for our families is great and is so important for us as it makes our lives easier.”
