La Plata Family Centers Coalition is celebrating 40 years of community building Saturday evening and holding its second annual fundraising Harvest Dinner at Pond Farm about 11 miles south of Durango.
For four decades, the Coalition has been a pivotal force for helping immigrant families, people of color, youths, the downtrodden and other individuals in need to reach their full potential, said Mariel Balbuena, executive director of 10 years.
There is a lot to celebrate this year, she said.
This fall marks the third year of the Coalition’s Community Farming Initiative, a community-led effort conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic to help people help themselves through organic farming.
Balbuena said the Coalition received a $375,000 grant from the Colorado Health Foundation this year and similar grants in previous years to continue the Community Farming Initiative and other programs. It has also received smaller grants from the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
In addition to the Community Farming Initiative, grant funding will support entrepreneurship development and business planning with immigrants and people of color (many of whom will benefit from the produce grown at Pond Farm), youths engagement, and wellness and mental health services, all with an entrepreneurial angle, she said.
The Community Farming Initiative takes place at Pond Farm and four satellite gardens where community members have all they need to grow produce to make healthy, cultural cuisines that reconnect them to wherever they’re from, domestic or abroad, she said.
LPFCC board member Sergio Perez said tomatoes, kale, broccoli and squash are just a few of the things grown at the farm and in the gardens.
The initiative emphasizes the importance of healthy diets, mental health, fair work compensation, child care and entrepreneurship, Balbuena said. The Harvest Dinner is a fitting celebration of the community’s and Coalition’s efforts to provide good food for families and blossoming entrepreneurs.
“The fact that we can provide this kind of produce (is) mind-blowing,” Perez said. “Processed food is more expensive. … It's not going to be that good for your health. And getting fresh food, fresh meals, fresh veggies – it’s a good contribution.”
Balbuena said a group of community members approached the Coalition about forming a farming initiative in the interest of growing their own healthy food and preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol and heart diseases.
Farm and garden workers are paid $25 an hour. Teenagers are also welcome to participate and receive gift cards for their work, she said.
“The farm dinner (is) a moment where we have the biggest harvest of the year, and it's a long table in the field where everybody comes together and celebrates the efforts of the season,” she said.
Balbuena said some of this year’s sponsors are Sunnyside Market, Sage Fresh Eats, Zia Taqueria, Bread, the Colorado Health Foundation and Alpine Bank.
The Coalition is a founding member of the Family Resource Center Association, she said. Balbuena was mentored by former FRCA member Laura Patterson, who informed Balbuena’s strong vision for the Coalition’s mission.
“That has been really positive for me, because I understood where they're coming from and how important it is for the family center to be informed directly by those we serve,” she said. “... Through all these years, we continue to be informed, continue to be relevant and adapt and evolve.”
During the pandemic, the Coalition and other resource centers around the state were deemed essential workers, she said. The Coalition was entrusted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency with a large amount of supplies to be distributed around La Plata and Archuleta counties.
“We never closed,” she said. “And I think that that made us stronger.”
It was the Coalition’s community service during the pandemic that inspired other community members to get involved and form the Community Farming Initiative, she said.
The Coalition provides a slew of programs for families and individuals, including Emergency Assistance that helps families with food, baby supplies and even rent (when funding is available), and the Parent Education and Fatherhood programs that focus on responsible parenting and economic stability.
But the Coalition is best known for its Family Support Services, “a comprehensive, wraparound approach to offering families all the basic needs and smart goals (and) financial literacy so they can achieve the goals that they set for themselves to better their family and the community,” Balbuena said.
The center provided 37,702 services to 650 individual families in 2023, she said.
“The impact is very direct,” Sergio Perez, LPFCC board member, said. “People are getting real things in the real moment when they really need it.”
He said the Coalition’s Holly Jolly Toy Distribution, for which Coalition staff approach families about what their children want for Christmas and then go out and get those gifts, was a blessing amid economic inflation that’s shaking the world, let alone the country or the county.
“We were able to get, for example, more than 600 bags (of) toys,” he said. “Seeing the joy and the smiles when they have come to pick up those toys is just amazing. Or the food pantry program, or the go-back-to-school (program).”
Just 75 seats in total are available for the Harvest Dinner, Balbuena said. General admission tickets are $161.90, according to LPFCC’s website.
The Coalition is requesting item donations for a silent auction at the fundraiser on Saturday. Prospective donors can contact Naomi Marty, Coalition board member, at naomisernamarty@gmail.com or call (970) 939-8322.
The Harvest Dinner fundraiser and 40th anniversary celebration is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at Pond Farm at 2997 County Road 215 south of Durango.
cburney@durangoherald.com
