South End Life: A Community Farm Plants the Seeds for Food Security and Behavioral Health

Yu Chen chattered in Cantonese as she worked her shovel into the dark soil of Seattle Community Farm. Maintained by the Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS), the 1-acre farm is tucked between the Cheasty Greenspace and Seattle Housing Authority residences in Rainier Valley. Yu Chen, who goes only by her first name, is an assistant at the ACRS food bank, and she was preparing a corner of the garden for rows of a-choy, an Asian leafy green. A Beacon Hill resident, Yu Chen was raised in Vietnam, where her mother taught her to grow vegetables and medicinal herbs to work into foods and teas. Her mother passed away when she was 9, and Yu Chen took care of her siblings after that. "If you don't work [the land], you don't eat," she said.

In Southeast Seattle, more than 26% of households experience limited or uncertain access to food compared to roughly 10% for the rest of Seattle. Between 2018 and 2022, 19% of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults and 6% of Asians in King County experienced food insecurity.

The produce and herbs grown on the ACRS farm — 4,000 pounds annually — are funneled into the organization's programs, like its food bank, which serves about 5,000 people a year with culturally familiar foods. The food is distributed to more than 30 meal sites.

Yu Chen works with the chef at ACRS to plan which vegetables and herbs to grow, as the produce is incorporated into weekly community meals for seniors, including a Vietnamese program at Duoc Su Temple near Othello Station and at the low-income housing complex Center Park in north Rainier Valley, which serves Korean elders. The items also supplement lunches at Beacon Hill's International Drop-In Center (IDIC) Filipino Senior & Family Services.

ACRS started as an organization offering culturally sensitive, in-language mental health services in the early 1970s. Today, its work has expanded to include the food program, employment training, citizenship classes, and civic engagement, which offers non-partisan information on how to vote and access materials about local issues.

Miguel Saldin, whose mother reached out to ACRS in 1973 to find work when he was an infant, is now ACRS's nutrition program manager. Saldin noted that offering mental health services to someone usually points to other social needs, especially in communities that are under-resourced or overlooked by the public sector.

"[Our] service will always be here to advocate for the community and the members that we serve, but we also want to teach them to do that for themselves," Saldin said. "It's a thread that goes from behavioral health to speaking to power — to legislators — and saying, 'This is what I need to thrive as a person. This is what we need as a community.'"

The ACRS farm has garden plots specifically for the senior behavioral health program, for seniors to gather and garden together, as well as for the organization's youth program. Some of ACRS's community meal programs include facilitated discussions, talks, and activities such as tai chi and celebrations of cultural holidays. The kitchen at Club Bamboo, a meal site at the ACRS building in Rainier Valley, employs seniors who cook alongside youth, teaching them authentic flavors and recipes.

Isolation is a significant factor leading to death for many seniors. G. DeCastro, deputy director at ACRS, referred to the importance of services that provide first-generation immigrant seniors a way to connect and socialize with people who speak the same language and share culture and history over a meal each week.

"Many [come] from places of distress, violence, and war," De Castro said. "It's an opportunity for our seniors to build community among themselves and give each other the support that they need during this time."

ACRS's food programs face numerous challenges. Not only has the price of food been increasing, but tariffs on products purchased by the food bank have increased costs. Saldin reported that a case of coconut milk has risen from $34 to $39.50.

Aside from the food program, ACRS's citizenship program is considered the largest in the state, offering green-card holders, who are legally in this country, a path to citizenship. In March, the grant for this program was abruptly terminated by the federal administration.

The organization also anticipates that the passage of the federal budget will lead to negative impacts on Medicaid-funded programs and jeopardize programs focused on essential care for seniors and treatment for mental health and substance use. Combined with the state's historic budget shortfall, the organization is relying more on community support.

On June 28, ACRS will host its annual Walk for Rice, bringing upward of 600 people to walk around Seward Park (a little less than 3 miles). Seattle Kokon Taiko and Seattle Chinese Girls Drill Team will perform in a program. Funds raised during the event will go toward purchasing staples, like rice noodles and tofu, for the organization's food bank.

South End Life Bulletin Board

Keepin' It Cool

King County's Energize program is offering free or reduced-cost heat pumps, which heat and cool homes, to households and family-home child-care centers. You can find out if you qualify online at King County's program website.

Career Readiness Program

Fathers and Sons Together (FAST) is accepting applications for Next Generation Level Up (NGLU), a yearlong career readiness program that includes a $1,500 stipend for youth 14 to 24.

Pride Is Here!

Enjoy the Pride celebrations this weekend and throughout the summer!

Know Your Rights Resources

Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN) has informational sheets on your rights if ICE comes to your door, along with information about how to identify a judicial warrant and a warrant of removal by ICE.

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project has a list of resources and information to know your rights.

If you would like to report ICE activity in your area, the WAISN hotline is 844-724-3737.

Libraries Aren't Just for Books

Seattle Public Libraries have free naloxone and fentanyl strips to distribute to the community while supplies last.

Yuko Kodama is the News editor for the South Seattle Emerald. She is passionate about the critical role community media plays in our information landscape and loves stories that connect us to each other and our humanity. Her weekly "South End Life" column spotlights the stories of neighbors and community members that weave through the South End.