Annual Harmony Walk highlights growing problem of food insecurity in Richmond

Hundreds of people gathered Saturday at Nicholl Park for the 39th annual Harmony Walk, which aimed to raise $75,000 for the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program to provide hot meals to people in need. 

The goal represents a $15,000 increase over funds collected last year, as demand for food has grown in the area and is expected to grow even more, because of Trump administration changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that will push many recipients off the rolls. 

“Our food program is the only GRIP program without a dedicated funding source, which makes community fundraising like the Harmony Walk absolutely vital to keeping it running,” GRIP’s executive director Ralph Payton said. 

With more than 40 vendor booths, three food trucks, and a live jazz band, the event attracted about 250 participants. It began with Payton leading a six-block walk from Nicholl Park to GRIP’s office at 22nd Street, where he introduced the services GRIP provides to the unhoused community. Mayor Eduardo Martinez and Vice Mayor Cesar Zepeda addressed the crowd and showed support for GRIP’s work in combating homelessness. 

Gabriel Chang and Jessica Rojas attended the event with their children, who played chess and munched on French fries.

“Normally, we’d spend like $150 a week at the grocery store,” Chang said. “Now it’s anywhere from $200 to $250.”

Rojas noted that the costs of meat and produce have increased significantly. 

Rising food prices are drawing more people to GRIP, which distributes 300 to 400 hot meals to encampments in Richmond. Two years ago, these meals could support all of the encampment sites in Richmond and some sites outside of the city. Although Contra Costa County’s Point in Time survey showed a 46% drop in Richmond’s homelessness this year, demand for GRIP’s meals remains high. Payton said people who are not unhoused have joined food lines at the encampments.

Payton and Zepeda also expressed concern that more people will be food insecure as a result of the Trump administration’s policies, particularly cuts to SNAP and to housing subsidy programs, as well as ICE activity that has made immigrants afraid to leave the house. According to Payton, a lot of undocumented families and individuals who used to come in and access GRIP’s services now remain in encampments and wait for GRIP’s food outreach.

Richmond City Council on Tuesday is expected to consider a proposal to use some of the $1 million allocated for immigrants’ legal aid to include a flex fund for such essentials as food. Zepeda said he supports this expansion. 

Martinez said the city doesn’t provide direct food support, but he welcomed local organizations such as GRIP to seek financial assistance from the city if food need becomes greater. 

At the end of the Harmony Walk, the Rev. Eun-Joo Myung, pastor at Richmond First United Methodist Church and a GRIP board member, offered a closing prayer: 

“As we leave this park and head back to our lives, help us carry this spirit of harmony with us. Help us see the neighbor who needs a helping hand, give us courage to reach out, and remind us that small acts of kindness ripple out in ways we might never see.”

(Top photo: Ralph Payton, GRIP executive director, leads the Harmony Walk.)

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