“I know you!” the man called to her. “You’re the Healthy Cooking Lady!”
Galena laughs when recalling this moment — “I was like, ‘Yeah, I am!’ and he showed off what was in his shopping cart.”
Galena has earned this title through her inspiring community leadership in Tillamook. Since May, Galena has been working as a SNAP-Educator at the Oregon State University Extension office in Tillamook. In this role, she helps educate underserved communities on how to promote healthy lifestyles. As she’s finishing up her Bachelor’s in Public Health, Galena hosts cooking classes for low-income communities at Helping Hands, an organization offering housing and case management for people experiencing homelessness. She also runs a nutrition education booth at the local farmers market.
But Galena has not always worn so many hats. Her passion for helping others began when she took a role as a fitness instructor at the YMCA nine years ago. There, she moved on to teach the National Diabetes Prevention program and the Diabetes Self-Management program. And then, COVID-19 hit.
“It was the beginning of COVID,” Galena explains. “The YMCA shut down and we started calling all the members. And what we found was that a lot of people were lonely. They wanted to talk. So we started a care line — a hotline that went straight to my phone. When someone had COVID, they would call this line. I was pretty much on call 24/7.”
Through the Oregon Health Authority, Galena supported families across Tillamook county in whatever ways were most helpful to them — paying their bills, dropping off groceries from the store or local food pantry, setting up hotel room stays for people who were unhoused, and more.
Because of Tillamook’s rural and isolated environment, people experiencing poverty and hunger face unique barriers to getting the resources and food they need. Galena explains: “It was really hard, especially in a rural area, to get resources out to people, and to make sure people knew that resources were available to them. One time, I delivered 13 food boxes throughout the county, going up and down the coast. For me, it was just picking up food boxes and dropping them off, but for these families, they were stuck in their house, maybe scared. It was really rewarding to be able to take a little bit of stress off.”
While COVID-19 presented unique challenges, communities across Tillamook continue to face barriers to accessing food today.
Transportation is another barrier,” Galena says. “Not being able to get to and from, especially in rural communities, where the public transportation is limited due to staffing.The participants in Galena’s Cooking Matters classes speak to how difficult it can be to prepare, eat and store nutritious meals. “We talk about barriers. If you’re homeless, you can’t go grocery shopping like you would for a house with refrigeration or storage. So we have to ask, what can I store? We talk about the farmers markets and what resources they have, like Double Up Food Bucks. A lot of people — even those who have food stamps — don’t know those resources are available to them. And in the classes, I teach people how to cook. Last time, one person said, ‘I don’t even really know how to cook. I only know how to use a microwave.’ So we cooked a meal together.”
Galena describes how these cooking classes can be empowering for folks who rely on food banks: “I’m the one that wants to show you those unfamiliar foods. I want to educate you on that bag of beans you get at the food bank. Let me show you what we could do with them. I want to empower people to be able to take those ingredients they’re unfamiliar with and be able to say ‘This is what I can do with these ingredients.’”
In response to being the “Healthy Cooking Lady,” Galena points out that food is nourishment for our body, mind, spirit and community: “There’s a lot of stigma around food. ‘Good’ food, ‘bad’ food. All food is good food. All cultures are based around food. You go to any event and there’s food. What do we bring when someone passes away? A casserole. What do you bring someone that just had a baby? A casserole. So it’s really about understanding that your body reacts differently to different foods, and learning to love yourself and treat your body well.”
Galena’s experiences across Tillamook county paint a picture of how hunger relief programs can make a lifesaving impact. These stories also show us that no one experience of hunger is the same — that where we live, our dietary and cultural needs, our access to transportation, our health, and so many other factors determine when and where we can access foods and which foods are best for our family.
That’s why having choice and dignity in what foods we put on our table is so important. Food is a human right, and we all deserve food that is unrestricted, culturally-relevant, nourishing, dignified and fear-free.
One of the best ways we can ensure that every individual has unrestricted access to the food that is right for them is through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. SNAP is our country’s most effective anti-hunger program by placing resources directly into the hands of those who need it the most.
Galena describes the impossible, daily struggle for people experiencing food insecurity:
“For a lot of people, the struggle is — ‘I have $20. What comes first? Does my $20 go into my gas tank so I can get to and from work? And this leaves me to live off of Top Ramen for the next week?”
And she speaks to the life-changing impact SNAP can have: “The impact of SNAP is that it relieves some of that stress. Families know that they can get their fruits and vegetables, maybe at a farmers’ market with Double Up Food Bucks. It relieves some of that stress — they are able to take that $20 and make it into $40. They’re able to put $20 cash in their gas tank, and then have the rest for food.”
SNAP is proven to prevent homelessness, improve education and early learning outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and improve mental health. Yet, over 62,000 people in Oregon are ineligible for SNAP simply due to their immigration status. Where we were born should never be a determining factor in whether or not we can feed our family. This is why we support legislation to create a state-funded program that ensures everyone in Oregon can access the food we need.
Galena speaks to the importance of recognizing the shared humanity and dignity in every person
“When I was working at the food bank, I checked people in and I was just there to take their information. It was a maybe two minute conversation. I would ask, ‘How are you doing?’ And I had one person say, ‘Do you know what? I can’t even remember the last time someone asked me how I’m doing.’ Who knows their backstory? Why judge someone for seeking help? Let’s see what we can do to help. Let’s lift them up. My passion is helping others. Just being able to take that little bit of stress off someone because I have those resources and the ability to. It might not be a lot, but it might take that little bit of an edge off that day.”
“We live in a world right now where everyone is so quick to judge, quick to point fingers, quick to point a camera, instead of stepping in and helping. Being that ear to listen, or that shoulder to cry on. Asking, what can I do to help you? And for me, I’ve had times in my life when I really needed support. Luckily, I had a couple people that took me under their wings and really supported me in ways that I didn’t even realize I needed. And so I want to pay that forward.”