On a farm in Boring, Oregon, a member of the Gresham Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church has been hard at work lifting up her community. Just over two decades ago, Maximina “Maxi” Hernández Reyes moved to the United States from Oaxaca, Mexico. New to the area and still learning English, Maxi faced many challenges as she settled into her new life in Gresham. Maxi says that she was not aware of local food pantries and did not know many people in her community. When she did become aware of local food pantries, Maxi shared that there were still many barriers for herself and other immigrants – like hard-to-access information and a lack of Spanish speaking staff.

But several years later, in 2012, she came across a community garden in Gresham’s Vance Park. Back in Oaxaca, Maxi’s family earned a living as subsistence farmers, so when she found information posted nearby to contact Adam Kohl, the executive director for Outgrowing Hunger, she decided to reach out. She learned that Outgrowing Hunger provides farming 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, Maxi began to farm a small plot of land in the community garden.

“What motivated me to start farming was seeing the need in our community, where many families didn't have access to fresh vegetables, especially when the COVID pandemic hit,” Maxi shared. “Stores had no fresh vegetables; everything was empty. And with my small garden, I was able to help my neighbors and families, 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 lines of crops, she continued, “If we had had all of this back then, we could have helped so many more people. So, I thought to myself, ‘If I could help many families with that small space, why not have a larger one?’ I began to work 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, Maxi gardened in addition to working at her local McDonalds, where she eventually found herself earning a management role. As the years passed, she also 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. Her work continued to grow until, just a couple of years ago, she expanded from her community garden plot to a one-acre farm in Boring, Oregon, thanks to a partnership with Outgrowing Hunger. She began selling her produce. Last year, Maxi was able to leave her job at McDonald’s to work on her farm full time. During our interview she shared that there is much more to all of this than just providing healthy food, it’s also about making people feel at home in a place that might be otherwise unfamiliar and unwelcoming to them.

“It’s very important to me that we’re able to provide food that’s familiar to our community,” she said. “It’s tradition from our past, from our ancestors. Maybe you grew up eating certain kinds of vegetables, but when you move to a new place and can’t find them anymore, you stop being able to eat them. But when you see them again, how do you feel? You get excited! You’re happy, because you get to eat something you used to love, and now maybe you’re eating it again for the first time in 15 or 20 years!”

Maxi now serves as the Vice Chair for Outgrowing Hunger’s Board of Directors, and coaches other Latinas on how to turn farming into a sustainable income through a program called Guerreras Latinas.  

Maxi also shared that her faith plays a major role in how she views this work. “I’m a Seventh-day Adventist and part of the Gresham Hispanic Church,” she said, “and 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, my vision – to keep working to help others, whether it’s 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?”

You can find Maxi selling produce at local farmer’s markets like The People’s Market that takes place every Sunday from June 23 - November 3 from 1:00 PM-5:00 PM at the East County Courthouse at 18480 SE Stark St in Gresham, at a produce stand outside of Portland Adventist Hospital’s main entrance every Tuesday through the end of September from 4:00 PM-7:00PM, or by following her social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.