Editor’s note: This story was produced for the independent Mosaic Journalism Program for Bay Area high school students, an intensive course in journalism. Students in the program report and photograph stories under the guidance of professional journalists.
Every month, hundreds of families and individuals in need are welcomed at the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto, a culturally diverse and struggling city at the edge of Silicon Valley, one of the richest regions in America. Ready to help them are employees and volunteers who live in town and once struggled to eat.
James Vakameilalo, 34, started volunteering at EHP when he was 12 years old.
“When I first started off I was a volunteer because, dude, I come from a big family of nine,” he said. “Just living off of my dad’s salary wasn’t cutting it. There was days where we went hungry.”
James Vakameilalo gives two thumbs-up after handing out food during EHP’s June 6 food drive in East Palo Alto. (Nischal Jasti/Mosaic)
Even when Vakameilalo was in need, he was never alone.
“The kind lady over here, who works in the warehouse, her name is Miss Nevida,” the husky Samoan-Tongan American said. “Every weekend she would make something and send it to my mom.”
Vakameilalo remembers leaving for home with a pot of spaghetti cooked by EHP’s former executive director, Nevida Butler.
After fleeing an abusive relationship in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1973 with her three kids, Butler said, she landed in Bakersfield, homeless.
Butler eventually made the journey to East Palo Alto. With a friend’s help, she was able to get a roof over her head and a job with the American Red Cross.
One day while on the job, Butler was approached by EHP leaders, who offered her a position at EHP.
Nevida Butler, former executive director of the Ecumenical Health Program in East Palo Alto, sits at her desk on June 6, 2024. (Nischal Jasti/Mosaic)
“They said, ‘We want you to come and run the Ecumenical Hunger Program,’ and I said yes,” Butler said.
Butler was the program’s executive director for 27 years, 1981 to 2008.
“We help families that need help no matter their situation,” she said. Butler has stayed on as an outreach coordinator. “Hunger knows no color and it knows no language.”
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Today EHP has 30 staff members. Program officials said it served about 1,850 families in May. It gave out 33,789 food boxes …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
