Flor Martinez, 27, has been working for the past two years to bring community to immigrant and farmworker communities, organizing everything from backpack drives to food distribution and free famil…
SAN JOSE — Flor Martinez knows what it’s like to grow up in a family where a trip to the movie theatre is as much of a luxury as going to Disneyland. As an undocumented Mexican immigrant who came to America at age 3, she remembers her family relying on the kindness of strangers for help in navigating a new country, food banks to feed them and free community events to keep the kids entertained.
From giving away meals to putting up festivals and even setting up school supply drives for the children of farmworkers and immigrants, here’s a look at how Martinez is taking marginalized communities out of the shadows.It’s really what made us into what we are today. In August 2020, when the fires were happening and there was smoke everywhere and heatwaves, I went to social media to bring attention to it.
When you host events with a stage and artists and free food and free face painting and arts and crafts and resources from families, you start to build trust in the community and learn what they need from people like us. When I tell them I grew up undocumented, that I was a farmworker, and that I want to help, we have people who put their trust in us.