Three Sisters Gardens provides free produce for food-insecure folks
Residents at the Las Casitas affordable housing complex in West Sacramento have been benefitting from a free weekly Community Giving Program organized by local nonprofit organization Three Sisters Gardens that distributes free locallygrown produce.
Several staff members and youth volunteers meet at the organization's 700 Cummins Way Farm every Friday morning and distribute bags of produce to individuals and families who have requested the assistance. The bags are prepared every Thursday at its other farm located at 317 5th St.
For over a year, Three Sisters Gardens has distributed dozens of bags weekly with the goal of targeting specific communities in the city's food-insecure Bryte and Broderick neighborhoods.
Alfred Melbourne, owner and operator of the nonprofit, said that the Las Casitas complex — located along Lighthouse Dr. in the northeast corner of town — is one of the main communities they support.
“We had already been giving (food) to them through our free farmstand that we had there,” Melbourne recounted. “But it's been more intentional for us doing the Community Giving Program going door-to-door and collecting some information.”
He explained that some information the nonprofit gathers includes family sizes so that they know how much food to bring people during future giving days.
According to Melbourne, the program currently helps roughly 50 families with about 45 of them residing in the Las Casitas complex.
Farm Manager Katrina Burce noted that the produce provided changes every week and depends on the season. For example, the nonprofit's first distribution of the year included kale, lettuce and carrots.
Las Casitas resident Tanya, who did not want to share her last name, said she has been receiving help from the nonprofit for roughly two months and has appreciated the variety of vegetables she's received.
“The food is very helpful and nutritional, and I'm very happy to receive it,” she stressed.
Kelly Graziadei is a UC Davis student who started volunteering at Three Sisters Gardens in September 2023 through the Sacramento Valley College Corps. After distributing produce bags to several homes in the Las Casitas neighborhood on Friday, Jan. 19, she highlighted the work the nonprofit has been doing in helping address the need of food sovereignty in West Sacramento.
“I think it's essential because I don't think our infrastructure is really tackling these issues very well,” she said regarding the nonprofit. “This is food sovereignty, it's not just food security.”
The U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance defines food sovereignty as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.”
By growing and providing produce for the community's food-insecure population, Three Sisters Gardens hopes to set an example for other communities on how to gain food sovereignty.
Additionally, the program gives Melbourne's young staff and volunteers a lens into the hardships created by food insecurity and helps create future leaders who will continue addressing these issues in the future.
“We need strategies to enforce our current food supply and food system,” he emphasized. “This just gives us more opportunities to have our trainers become leaders, training the community with the philosophy of `showing our community how to fish rather than giving them a fish.'”
“Our goal is to inspire and empower at-potential youth and at the same time inspire and empower each other by building connections with interns, volunteers and some folks from around the community that come out and see what we're doing,” he said. “We never thought that we could grow enough to feed everybody, but we can create a model right here near our state's capitol to show folks how they can continue to build similar models in their communities.”
Samuel Ramos, 20, said he started working at Three Sisters Gardens four years ago as a volunteer and eventually worked his way up to a paid position as a farm hand. Ramos said he was shy when he first started and never expected to be in a position where he was teaching people valuable skills.
“I've taken the youth classes to farm tours and taught them about irrigation, plant life and pests,” he said. “I ended up teaching people here, which is something I did not see myself doing, especially when I started.”
When speaking about the giving program and hosting farm stands, Ramos said he's happy to see the appreciative looks on people's faces.
“I can (see) in the people's faces how appreciative they are of a free bag of organic vegetables that they're going to feed their family with,” he emphasized. “It definitely humbles me and makes me appreciate the job.”
Carl Wesley Richardson, 22, started volunteering with the nonprofit in 2019 and said he didn't know much about growing plants or how to talk to other people.
He explained that many people in the Las Casitas complex are unable to shop for their own groceries because of age or other health issues, and he appreciated the help the nonprofit provides them.
“And when we have our skill shares here, I like being able to teach people even the simple things that I know now,” he continued. “I've learned them over the last four years and that's something I really like sharing.”
To learn more about Three Sisters Gardens, visit 3sistersgardens.com.
I came in determined to create more equity and more avenues for the community to have both a say and a say in the progress and development of the city, and today, there is much evidence that incredible strides have been made. Town Halls have become a regular tradition, along with holding them in various spaces throughout the city where people gather in their respective neighborhoods.
Another area of focus for me has been public safety and infrastructure. West Sacramento has grown significantly in size and population and I am determined to see that we have seasoned first responders who will grow with the community. We need to incentivize them to stay in the city by ensuring adequate staffing and offering fair compensation for the high-intensity work that they do. I see this working on retention efforts as a proactive measure to increase public safety and the city's ability to respond to increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather-related events that wreak havoc on infrastructure and leave residents in dangerous and unsafe situations.
The West Sacramento Police Department and the Crisis Intervention Team have made impressive efforts to increase public engagement and foster much-needed dialogue to make public safety a shared goal with a shared vision and mission. West Sacramento is surrounded by waterways and we are so thankful
As the 2023 chair of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Oscar Villegas helped shepherd the distribution of American Rescue Plan dollars, which funded the city of West Sacramento and Yolo County Homeless Partnership via Project Roomkey, the Crisis Now mental health crisis system of care and Broadband delivery projects along with events that highlight the importance of healthy communities. Supervisor Villegas also promoted the mental health awareness campaign Itonlytakes.com and continues to focus on delivery of mental health services.
In December 2023 the District 1 office supported local non-profit partners by participating in the 8th Annual Kids Give Back packing celebration. This event provided children
West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero.
for Congressmember Matsui's steadfast support in securing the needed funding to continue strengthening our levee systems. As a council, the intention is to continue to prioritize the concerns of residents, from potholes that damage property to issues with sewage lines.
And like many cities, we are always grappling with finding ways to combat blight. Having the Finishing Trades Institute here in West Sacramento doing the work of building out quality workforces through their ongoing recruitment and training programs has been such an incredible gift to the city. This past year a wonderful partnership between two local volunteer organizers and the Finishing Trades Institute has resulted in a grassroots citywide Graffiti Removal Program. Apprentices in the finishing trades are given the opportunity to practice and hone their skills by benign connected to neighbors with neighbors who need assistance to repaint fences and other structures that have been vandalized by taggers. The partnership has expanded to include the city to help address a backlog of maintenance and upkeep of amenities at our local parks and sports fields.
Habitat for Humanity has been another incredible partner for West Sacramento in the fight against blight. The Rock the Block events in Bryte and Broderick brought out more than 400 volunteers from local businesses and community-based organizations to freshen up and repair homes, yards and fences for dozens of grateful neighbors. And thanks to Councilmember Orozco we continue to prosper from the Downtown Streets Team as another vital community partner offering people a hand-up while also contributing to the upkeep of the community.
The demand for affordable housing to meet every strata of the economic ladder is a state-wide issue and like many cities we too are struggling to keep up with a growing need. We are especially proud that in 2022, West Sacramento was among 22 California cities designated to be a Pro-Housing Jurisdiction by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The designation allows the city to receive priority positioning for future grant funding administered by HCD, which includes access to its new Pro-Housing Incentive Pilot Program. This win for the city was made possible by a proactive council committed to the adoption of proven strategies for spurring housing growth.
We are also addressing the need for our unhoused neighbors by partnering with Yolo County to purchase West Capitol Avenue motels to duplicate the success of the Project HomeKey program that has served as a bridge to move people from transitional to permanent housing. The city has a number of other housing projects in motion, and we feel we are making good progress, though we know there is still much to do to address affordability.
On the economic front, I'm hoping to see West Sacramento continue to build a reputation as a haven for the small and family-owned businesses that fuel the local economy and add to the city's warmth and charm. The West Sacramento Chamber of Commerce is actively doing their part and welcoming in many new businesses, but we are also fortunate to have the California Hispanic Chamber bringing in an Accelerator Program to West Sacramento designed to target potential micro-enterprising business owners to realize their dreams by receiving coaching and support to develop and execute achievable business plans.
The Home Run Program that brings high quality early learning opportunities to our children recently turned 20 years old. The program has expanded a partnership with Yolo County Children's Alliance, the Washington Unified School District and the Los Rios Community College West Sacramento location to boost participation. Both of my daughters are now mothers and I now have two adorable grandchildren to love and treasure so programs like Home Run and its many partners really hold a special place in my heart.
One recent development around public engagement really has me excited for the future of the city and that is the launch of the city's seven session Community Academy free to the citizenry. We hope to see an increase in civic engagement as participants are guided through the mechanisms and processes of city governance and also given the opportunity to interface with department staff to become graduates with the skills to contribute to the shaping of the city and its public goods.
This is the stuff that motivates me and why I'm ready to keep growing with this city I love and the people that have helped make West Sacramento home.
“I think it's essential because I don't think our infrastructure is really tackling these issues very well. This is food sovereignty, it's not just food security.”