EL MONTE, Calif. — For El Monte resident Ilezabeth Palacios, who is a mother of five, the best time of the week without is when she unpacks her groceries. 

Each box of food she unpacks means Palacios has been able to feed her family during a time she described as the most challenging year of her life.

"I was surviving just fine, but this year was very bad," Palacios explained. "I stopped working, then I tried to start again, and I couldn't. This food program is helping me a lot to put food on my table for my kids."

The city of El Monte runs the food program she is referring to. It provides some of the area's most vulnerable families with a free box of groceries twice per month. It was inspired in part by Councilwoman Maria Morales, who has seen her community struggling firsthand over the last year.

"Since March of last year, as folks started to see their layoff notices, families were really trying to make ends meet," she said. "We started to get phone calls at City Hall."

The Council wanted to find a tangible way to make an impact during the pandemic and starting with addressing food insecurity seemed to be the best plan of attack.

According to Feeding America, food insecurity was at the lowest rate it had been in 20 years back in 2019. Due to the pandemic, job losses and economic hardship have seen about 42 million people become food insecure.

"These are very difficult times, and we're trying to stretch everything we have, including food and our paychecks," Morales said. "These are meals that our moms and dads will definitely make use of to feed our families."  

Every two weeks, staff members at Northgate Markets walk through their aisles and pull necessities like meat, fruit, dairy, and produce. From there, the groceries are sorted and packed then sent out to 110 low-income families. For Northgate Market, it was important to do what they could to help lend a hand.

"Northgate Market has always taken great pride in making contributions that improve the quality of life for residents in areas we serve," said Miguel Gonzalez, co-president of Northgate González Market. "Our partnership with the city of El Monte is a prime example of how the private sector can work with local government to improve the lives of those residents most in need."

For Palacios, who said she was not optimistic she would be able to afford food to feed her family and maintain her bills, the program has been a blessing.

"When they told me that I qualified, it was like winning the lottery," she said.