Women’s History Month: Four Powerful Women Fighting Hunger
This Women’s History Month, we are shining a spotlight on the women in our network who are making things happen in the sphere of hunger relief. The stories of the incredible women working with Feeding San Diego to provide food assistance in thoughtful and creative ways are too many to count. However, we are honored to have interviewed four of them: Dr. Suzanne Afflalo, who works to provide food assistance at health fairs in the South Bay; Pastor Ruth Walkes, founder of RAW Ministries, and her colleague Peggy Franklin, director of the food ministry; and Patrina Reed, the founder of Women of Promise Resource Center in San Marcos.
Each of these female leaders saw a need in their community and decided to take action to rise to meet it. In honor of Women’s History Month, we wanted to learn more about what drives them to act and how they are improving the lives of those they serve. Their stories remind us of the power of women advocating for their community.
One Healthcare Provider Meeting People Where They Are
Dr. Suzanne Afflalo, Founder of A Healthier Me
Why did you start A Healthier Me and the health fair?
With my practice for 23 years at Kaiser, I saw so many people on my panel. It didn’t take very long to realize that it was the black and brown people who had uncontrolled health issues. I decided I needed to do more. I thought of a program that I could roll out to churches that would meet people where they are.
Since 2014, I’ve rolled it out to several churches. I’m trying to show people different options instead of just beating them down and telling them not to eat this and not to do that. There are so many issues. It’s a heavy lift, but it’s about building relationships in the community and making it, so they want to do what you say.
Dr. Afflalo leads a meeting at the Health and Community Resource Fair
What services do you provide?
I started doing the health fair in 2017. I’m trying to create one-stop shopping. We encourage people to get at least two screenings done at the event, blood pressure, cholesterol, mammogram. The Kaiser mobile ban is there too, so I can see patients on that day. We added COVID vaccines, flu vaccines, and rapid testing in the last year. We just keep adding resources that are important for the community. Every year we change and adjust.
Their health is my most important, but it’s not what brings people out. I can’t be mad at them if their health isn’t a priority because they are just trying to get from day-to-day. You have to educate them that without your health, you can’t take care of your children, you can’t do anything else. I tell them, “Your health is important because you’re the mother, the grandmother; you are the glue to this family. Without you, this family falls apart.” Once they realize that, they make changes.
Dr. Afflalo and her team
What led to the partnership with Feeding San Diego?
I’m the director of the health ministry at City of Hope church. They used to get food delivered from a different partner, but that fell apart. When I took over, I signed up to be a partner with Feeding San Diego. I started doing health screenings, but I also picked back up with the food delivery process. We’re in a food desert down there in Southeast San Diego. There’s one Food 4 Less in about a 5- to 7-mile radius. Everything is picked over, I wouldn’t shop there, but they don’t have a choice. Having Feeding San Diego fills that gap.
I’m not taking no for an answer. I’m still going to get it done in some kind of way. If a door closes, I look for a window to go through.
What does it mean to you to serve your community?
I don’t do any of the work I do for any kind of acknowledgment, just to serve the community. All of it’s necessary. If it were just for me, I would have quit a long time ago. I could easily retire, but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. I’m not taking no for an answer. I’m still going to get it done in some kind of way. If a door closes, I look for a window to go through. There’s so much work to be done.
You recently received the Dr. Martin Luther King Human Dignity Award. What does it mean to you to be recognized in this manner?
I was caught off guard. I was not expecting it. It’s a tremendous honor because it’s in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King and everything he did. Just being thought of in the same regard was a humbling experience. I put my nose down and do the work, I do it quietly and unassumingly, but it’s very apparent that the community sees it.
The Only Outreach Center in the North Corridor
Pastor Ruth Walkes (left), founder of RAW Ministries, and Peggy Franklin (right), Director of Food Ministry
Why did you start Ruth Anointed World (RAW) Ministries?
Pastor Ruth: It was birthed from being hungry with two kids, a husband, and literally no food, and sharing half a cabbage and half a can of beans with my brother, who had just had a baby. I thought to myself, ‘I never want anyone to be hungry.’ That was the moment of knowing that I was going to do something more. In 2014, the Lord opened up a door for us to have a building. Everything just started clicking. We started giving everything we could to the community. Now we’re the only outreach center in the North Corridor.
What services do you provide?
Pastor Ruth: We hand out food once a week in San Marcos. We also hand out diapers once a month. Twice a week, we pick up food from a local restaurant and take it to seniors living in two complexes in Oceanside and San Marcos. At one of them, their rent has increased about $500 in the last year, so they depend on that hot food. We also have a housing program so we can pay rent up to $3,000 a month, and we help with utilities. We’ll put the homeless up in hotels for up to 30 days, and we also support an orphanage and 40 churches in Africa.
Peggy Franklin: We do pickups from a few different stores. We are hand-in-hand with other organizations since COVID hit, making sure people are eating, making sure their rent and utilities are paid. Pastor Ruth works very diligently with the ministry. It takes hours every day to make sure the paperwork is done. Sometimes they just need you to listen or just a hug and to tell them it’s going to get better. We love people to contact us for our services.
A volunteer distributes hot food to a senior at one of the centers RAW Ministries serves.
What led to the partnership with Feeding San Diego?
Pastor Ruth: I used to buy food or ask for a discount on food the stores were throwing away. Every Sunday, I would buy it and set it out at church. I was running a little low on food, and I met a pastor who was working with Feeding America. I put in an application, and they became Feeding San Diego. I’ve been with them ever since. We used to have 300 cars line up every Friday, non-stop, through the whole year of COVID, and if it wasn’t for Feeding San Diego… they provided 80% of our food. They showed up and made it so accessible.
Peggy Franklin: We couldn’t do it without the program. Without Feeding San Diego, there’s no ministry. We couldn’t do it.
A RAW Ministries drive-up food distribution
What does it mean to you to serve your community?
Pastor Ruth: We have a heart for people and taking care of people. We don’t promote; we just do the work. We’re boots; we don’t have to be known. I try to find communities in need to get them out of the cycle of need. Food shouldn’t be a need. It’s an abundance. I remember being hungry. I remember having kids and praying, “Lord, I’m going home today, and I don’t even have rice to feed my kids.” I try to make it easy for them to sustain themselves. My whole heart is to gird up the North County from the sea to the inland. I have a love for all those communities.
I go to sleep at night dreaming about how the people are going to be fed.
Peggy Franklin: I live for this. I go to sleep at night dreaming about how the people are going to be fed. What do I need to do to make sure everyone gets what they need? I just love what I do. I love working in servitude, being a servant, and helping people who need help. It’s a pleasure being able to serve.
Since it is Women’s History Month, what does being part of a women-led organization mean to you?
Peggy Franklin: I love it. I feel so honored to work side-by-side with my pastor, mentor, and friend. Pastor Ruth is an amazing woman. The leadership that she exemplifies and lives on a day-to-day basis, there isn’t really a word in the vocabulary to explain. She is a great example. She’s a great leader.
Empowering Women to Reach Their Dreams
Patrina Reed, founder of Women of Promise Resource Center
Why did you start the Women of Promise Resource Center?
I’ve been doing this type of thing for probably the last 10 years. My husband and I previously owned a home for mentally disabled adults for 12 years. We also kept feeding people, helping wherever we could. In 2019, I went to Africa, and boom, it was clear that I needed to take what we were doing on weekends to the next level. And that’s how Women of Promise evolved.
What services do you provide?
I’m really big on empowering women to do whatever their dream is, whether it’s spiritual, in the community, or even just in their homes. We do mentoring, counseling, parenting classes, financial management classes, all on-site. Once a month, we go out and do homeless outreach. We take them food; we have big containers of clothing and hygiene products. I like to say we try and meet each person where they’re at, especially the women. My heartbeat is really for women.
What led to the partnership with Feeding San Diego?
Initially, I had a list of other local organizations within the area that offered food, so I would kind of send people out. During COVID, our entire family was volunteering at our church, and someone over there introduced us to Feeding San Diego. It’s been a true blessing. I have a pre-printed sheet, almost like a grocery list, and they pick what they want, and we put together a box for them.
Volunteers with Women of Promise distributing food to the community
What does it mean to you to serve your community?
What really drives me is just to see people come from a place where they feel like there’s no hope to bringing them hope. I know we can’t help everyone, we don’t have a lot of funding, but we’re just trying to tap into all the different resources available to help people get to the next level.
I think we all come down to a point where we’re down on our luck. Our goal is to help them walk through the process of coming from the bad situation into where they’re coming back and volunteering and helping us. I just have a heart to serve people and see people do their best and be in the best position they can be.
Considering it is Women’s History Month, what drove you to focus on helping women specifically?
My heart has always been to help women and empower them. I was a single mom. Actually, I got pregnant at 17. I was still in high school, and I was determined to graduate, so my mom stepped in and helped me so that I was able to finish. I’m happy to say I’m about to start my master’s program in Women’s Leadership. That’s really what my focus is.
I want to help women see that whatever your dream is or was, you can still do it. It’s a total honor to serve the ladies that I get to serve.
I know the struggle. You don’t want to ask people for anything because you don’t want the judgment. I created the atmosphere of our office so that when people walk in here, they feel like they belong. I’m big on creating a legacy for our children and grandchildren to where they’re not struggling. We try to partner with the different organizations out there to help women build their lives and future. I want to help women see that whatever your dream is or was, you can still do it. It’s a total honor to serve the ladies that I get to serve.
We Are Proud to Be a Female-Founded Nonprofit
As we reflect on Women’s History Month, we want to celebrate all the women who bring commitment, compassion, and dedication to our mission, including Feeding San Diego’s founder, Gwendolyn Sontheim. Gwendolyn still serves as our board chair nearly 15 years after she first founded the organization. We are proud to be a female-founded non-profit with incredible female leadership across all of our departments and our board.
