On a farm in Boring, Oregon, a Gresham Spanish Adventist Church member has been hard at work in her community.
Around two decades ago, Maximina Hernández Reyes moved to the U.S. from Oaxaca, Mexico. New to the area and still learning English, Hernández Reyes faced many challenges as she settled into her new life in Gresham. She found that there were many barriers to local services, like hard-to-access information and a lack of Spanish-speaking staff.
In 2012, she came across a community garden in Gresham’s Vance Park. Back in Oaxaca, Hernández Reyes' family were farmers, so when she found contact information, she decided to reach out. She learned that Outgrowing Hunger provides plots at a small cost to immigrants and refugees to help them provide for their families and earn a sustainable income. Along with her family, Hernández Reyes began to farm a small plot in the community garden.
“What motivated me to start farming was seeing the need in our community. Many families didn't have access to fresh vegetables, especially when the pandemic hit,” Hernández Reyes shared. “Stores had no fresh vegetables; everything was empty. And with my small garden, I helped families and my neighbors, even if it was just with five tomatoes or peppers or a squash left on their doorstep. There was a real need for fresh fruits and vegetables during that time.”
Gesturing to her now flourishing crops, she continued, “If we had had all this back then, we could've helped so many more people. So, I thought, ‘If I could help many families with that small space, why not have a larger one?’ I began working harder to provide my produce to the community by working with churches and organizations that were willing to buy my vegetables and give them away to others for free. That was what motivated me the most.”
Initially, Hernández Reyes gardened in addition to working at her local McDonald's. As the years passed, she found herself becoming a leader in her community through her gardening work where she began to teach others how to farm the land and grow fresh food. A couple of years ago, she moved from her community garden plot to a one-acre farm in Boring, thanks to a partnership with Outgrowing Hunger. She began selling her produce, and last year she was able to leave her job at McDonald’s to work on the farm full time.
Hernández Reyes now serves as Outgrowing Hunger’s board of directors vice chair and coaches other women on how to turn farming into sustainable income through a program called Guerreras Latinas.
Hernández Reyes' faith plays a major role in how she views her work. She said, “What I enjoy most is serving others. So, if I’m going to do this anyway, why not use it to bless other people? That’s my motivation — to keep working to help others, whether through food or teaching, in whatever ways that I can, for my community and those in need of help. That’s what Jesus did for us! He loved us, so why shouldn’t we share that same love with others? He gives us everything we have. Why shouldn’t we give all that we can to others, too?”
Maximina Hernández Reyes sells produce throughout the summer to fund her bigger project: helping others learn to do it too.
