Mobilizing for change
Youth nonprofit explores food insecurity in Kern through documentary filmmaking
The locally produced documentary film opens with facts: Fact 1: In 2019, Kern was the second richest county in agricultural production values in the nation.
Fact 2: Every day in Kern, as many as 116,000 people do not know where their next meal is coming from.
“It’s really difficult to wrap your head around food insecurity in a place that’s so bountiful,” Rafael Juarez, food and nutrition services manager for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, says early in the film.
“INVISIBLE: The Unseen Faces of Hunger” was produced by members of Transitional Youth Mobilizing for Change, a local nonprofit that creates opportunities for young people to identify and take on issues of concern in their community.
It was released in June, but first it meant gathering information, film footage, and interviewing area residents affected by food insecurity.
Working in food distri
bution lines “really opened our eyes,” said TYM4Change member Jacqueline Magana.
The members began initiating conversations with people, many of whom had never had to ask for a food box before. Those early conversations evolved into longer, videotaped interviews.
Magana said the experience was life-changing.
“Many of the stories they shared with us were heartbreaking,” Magana said.
One of their goals was to dispel stereotypes.
“There is a common perception that people who need food assistance are homeless, suffering from mental illness, alcohol or drug dependent, or just plain lazy,” R. Amaya, the film’s narrator, says in the documentary.
“Some people want to say, ‘Well, they just don’t want to work,’” Glen Ephrom, executive director of Golden Empire Gleaners, says in an on-film interview.
“For the most part, that’s not true,” he said. “People would rather work, make their way, and be able to pay their way.”
Amaya was able to draw upon the experience of growing up.
“I’ve been familiar with food insecurity,” Amaya said. “It’s something that I grew up in.
“Being able to see it from the perspective of a researcher, sort of seeing the facts and the figures, the this is why this is happening, this is how this is happening.”
“I put it in context with my own experiences, but also the experiences of my neighborhood, my friends, the people around me and the county as a whole,” Amaya said. “It really put a lot of the pieces together.”
Jennifer Wilson, a single mother who experienced homelessness after living for years with a six-figure household income, was interviewed by the young filmmakers.
“When I was married — we were married through all my 20s — we were very successful,” Wilson says on film. “We were making six figures a year for a really long time.”
Food was not an issue. When
she went to the grocery store, she bought whatever she wanted.
“When we split up, I had nothing. I left with $12 in my pocket.
“I was able to scrape together enough to get an apartment, and then every month it was scraping together enough to keep that apartment.”
The young filmmakers interviewed seniors on a fixed income who rely on food distributions to make it through the month.
They found out you can be homeless and have a job.
They met entrepreneurs whose businesses failed during the pandemic.
They learned that social stigmas keep many who need help from asking for assistance.
“Being exposed to the topics of the film and hearing some of the interviewees was really powerful,” said TYM4Change member Alexander Fan. “Just to hear their personal testimony, these people are so resilient and inspiring.
“It really shook me to my core,” he said.
Dixie King, executive director of the nonprofit, said the young people in TYM4Change were inspired to do a “ball drive” for
Sunset Middle School in Weedpatch when they found out that students lacked basic sports and athletic equipment to play with during recess and lunch.
The project “brought in over 100 basketballs, footballs, and soccer balls for the kids,” King said.
“We are currently under contract with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office to offer ‘Capes Up, Vapes Down,’ an anti-tobacco program that is going to be used in a few of our districts as an alternative to suspension for kids caught vaping,” she said.
The project provides eight to 12 weeks of lessons that include having students research the ways in which Big Tobacco targets kids and communities of color, then students develop their own anti-tobacco campaigns, using what they’ve learned to bring social media messaging to peers and younger students to prevent tobacco use.
“This fall,” King said, “we will also be conducting support groups in interested Kern County school districts that focus on social skills, leadership, substance use prevention, and communication.”
Zuri Maradiaga, an adult staff member who worked on the film team and helped with research for the documentary, said she’ll never forget her experience meeting and hearing the stories of those experiencing food insecurity.
“One person looked into my eyes and said, ‘It could be you,” she remembered. “‘Try not to judge. It could be you.’”