When Celeste Fuertes (a pseudonym) first moved to Oregon, she didn’t have much to her name.
“I came from California during the pandemic,” she says. “When I came, I came from nothing. I had lost my job.”
She recalls feeling desperate. “I’m a woman who is used to working. When I was in California, I worked two jobs to afford all my expenses. But then, coming here with nothing, with just my husband’s support, who was also struggling, it was hard.”
Amid her challenges, Fuertes was also looking for activities and other programs for her son. A friend mentioned a program called Bienestar de la Familia — which means “family well-being” in Spanish — and told her that it offers not just learning experiences for children, but also support and resources for families having a hard time.
“It opened my eyes,” Fuertes says. “I felt blessed that I was not alone. It helped my son and helped me too with so many resources.”
Bienestar de la Familia, part of the Department of County Human Services, launched nearly 30 years ago to serve the community in Multnomah County. Today, it offers a wide array of services to people of all ages and backgrounds, including those struggling to make ends meet or finding themselves on the margins, sometimes for the first time.
“It helps support families facing poverty,” said Julio Maldonado, a manager for the program.
Bienestar services can include mental health and addiction support, housing stability and emergency eviction prevention assistance, court outreach, rehousing and housing placements, community engagement, youth programs and SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program].
The program also provides employment services, financial and computer literacy, and even opportunities to listen to local community speakers.
Case managers help provide comprehensive support by connecting individuals, families, and their children to the wide range of available resources that best meet their needs, said Maldonado.
“They can also help you apply for SNAP benefits or make referrals to organizations, events where people can get support,” says Fuertes.
One such event is the Mercado, a monthly market coordinated by Amy Pardo Mendoza, Bienestar’s senior office assistant. To stock the Mercado, Bienestar partners with the Oregon Food Bank, which provides the Mercado with fresh fruits, vegetables and other staples, and a host of other organizations.
According to the Oregon Food Bank, 1 in 8 people in Oregon and Southwest Washington — and one-sixth of all kids — face food insecurity. In Oregon alone, more than 700,000 people depend on SNAP benefits to put food on their tables.
But recent changes in federal funding and requirements for food assistance and Medicaid have created immense uncertainty and even fear.
During the height of the pandemic, the lines at the Mercado were longer than ever. “People would start lining up for the service early — easily hundreds of people,” Pardo Mendoza says.
The Mercado remains a lifeline for many community members, addressing not only their food needs, but other areas of their lives, too. From April through June 2025 alone, 1,159 individuals and families were served by Bienestar de la Familia during the Mercado and food distribution events.
Yet today, while there are more food pantries and distribution sites than before, Pardo Mendoza notes a distressing challenge.
"In the time since I've been here, this is the least amount of food I've seen families have," she says. "It's been up and down, but it's never been worse than now. We've heard stories about [what we offer at the Mercado] not being enough to cover all of what they need."
September is Hunger Action Month — a time when people across the country join together to help end hunger. Bienestar de la Familia works with the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Community School program, its family resources navigators and its community-based organization partners to help even more students and families connect with food and assistance.
“People are very grateful. Nothing can buy that. You can’t put a price on it,” says Pardo Mendoza. “It’s rewarding seeing people being housed, getting kids to school, finding employment and the path toward independence.”
Today, Fuertes, the mom who found help from Bienestar, doesn’t just have a job — she’s also making sure others who find themselves in similar situations can continue getting help from the County. She also provides input to Bienestar de la Familia to improve and help support other families.
“I got a job after two years. But there are still people who are unemployed and many single moms,” she says. “I am trying to give back the best ways that I can.”
