Garden Grove Unified community organizes food drives as immigration raids continue ...Middle East

In response to ongoing federal immigration raids in Southern California, students, teachers and coaches in the Garden Grove Unified School District are organizing food drives to help concerned families.

Samantha Avina-Flores, 17, has launched a grassroots community aid drive that’s already drawn lots of support, putting together care boxes for families who are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being targeted in an immigration enforcement operation.

“I was seeing everything that was being posted online and I shared resources too, like graphics and tips of what to do when you’re detained. But I wanted to do more. I felt like posting wasn’t enough,” said the rising senior at Garden Grove High School. “It just made me really sad what was going on and I knew people needed help, and I thought this was the best way to help people directly.”

On Saturday, she and her mother, Claire Avina-Flores, camped out on the sidewalk outside Garden Grove High School for two and a half hours, collecting a carload of donations for families.

“We had nonstop donations,” said Claire Avina-Flores. “My car got filled up and friends had to stop by and pick stuff up as well.”

Now the mother-daughter duo is planning a second food and supply drive from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 5, in front of the school auditorium. Items requested include cereal, rice and beans, canned foods, water, diapers, personal hygiene items and toilet paper.

Claire Avina-Flores said Garden Grove High School offered to open up the school to store donations.

“It’s sad, but we know that the need is going to continue,” she said. “We’re going to create care packages with the items we collect and work alongside the city and school district to help those most in need.”

The drive is one of several efforts that have sprung up across the district. At Santiago High School, soccer coaches and faculty teamed up to launch a food drive and delivery effort on Saturday, June 28. Volunteers, including student athletes, packed and distributed groceries through Jam Sports, a local youth league that offered up drivers.

By the end of the day, more than 70 families had received care packages.

The drive was born out of conversations between Santiago coaches and school board Trustee Walter Muneton, who said they started brainstorming after realizing how many families are being affected by the immigration raids.

“Some teachers are on summer break right now, (but) we got a bunch of teachers that have donated,” Muneton said. “We had our Santiago teacher-coach Nicole Doone, who went out and utilized all the contributions from our Santiago staff to go to Costco and purchase a bunch of items.”

Flappy’s Wings and Bar provided boxes and bags to help package donations, while BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse supplied pizzas for volunteers. Santiago alumni also showed up to help.

“The reason that we started this more than anything, was because we want to help the local community,” said Erick Borrayo, who coaches the girls’ soccer team. “If they can have a week’s worth of groceries and an excuse for them not to go out, that’s huge for us.”

“Me and Coach Carlos (Cruz), we’re from the local community,” Borrayo went on. “We live in the Garden Grove area and we’re both alumni of Santiago High School. And so this really did impact ourselves, our family and our students, as well. So we really wanted to create something that helped families out.”

Cruz, the head coach for the boys’ soccer team, spearheaded Saturday’s food drive.

“It’s all been really just a grassroots, homegrown kind of effort from Santiago staff and faculty,” Muneton said. “We’re just trying to do what we can to best support the community.”

The idea has already spread to other campuses. Los Amigos High School is collecting donations throughout the summer.

While these efforts are being led by volunteers, the state does operate official summer meal programs that offer free meals to all children 18 and under at approved sites in local communities. However, Muneton said current rules that generally require students to eat their meals onsite may be making it harder for some families to access the program, especially as fear keeps many from leaving their homes.

“I’ve spoken with our food services director, and because it’s relatively early, the data doesn’t really show a major, major decrease, but me, as a board member and being out in the community, I obviously am hearing the concerns of folks stepping out,” he said. “But as it stands right now, if a student wants to go and get a summer meal, they have to physically stay at our site and eat the meal. So as of now, there isn’t a way to work around that.”

He added that he hopes the state will give schools more flexibility.

“I think it’s going to take advocacy throughout the state, by folks contacting their local electeds, state senators, state assemblymembers, and seeing if they can give the school districts a little bit of a leeway,” Muneton said.

The immigration enforcement operations are ongoing, and for now, so is the need, Muneton said.

“We don’t know how long this is going to be,” he said. “But hopefully when school is gearing up, we’ll get our heads together and plan.”

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