A disaster on the Westside?

Sometimes it's hard to see the effects of hard times in Hanford and Lemoore.

But drive into southwestern Kings County, and it'll smack you in the face.

The rural communities of Stratford, Avenal and Kettleman City are stuck in a Bermuda Triangle of poverty, joblessness and drought that has created a kind of localized Great Depression.

It has caught the attention of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has repeatedly called on the Obama administration to reconsider sending disaster aid.

California is seeking federal help as it tries to meet the growing survival needs of residents who've been affected by the drought, including on the Westside.

Schwarzenegger petitioned the White House to declare California a major federal disaster area in June, in a bid to get more money for food banks, unemployment assistance and legal services in Fresno County. Kings County would benefit because the Community Food Bank in Fresno distributes here.

The White House denied the petition for disaster relief in July.

Residents of Kings County's hard-hit small towns say they desperately need the declaration.

In the summer, requests for assistance are usually at an annual low because the harvest is in full swing. Not this year. Drought-stricken farmers are leaving dusty fields instead of green crops, sending unemployment soaring in Stratford, Avenal and Kettleman City to 25 percent or more.

Outside Kettleman City, families are living in tiny, battered RVs in an RV park without water, electricity or gas, said Vanessa Aguilera, a Kettleman City resident and the officer manager at the town's family resource center.

The mostly government-funded centers in Stratford and Kettleman City have become lifelines for the needy, distributing food to families, giving clothes to children, teaching ESL classes and providing several other services under one roof.

A stream of Hispanic residents, mostly farmworkers unable to find jobs, come in for clothes, food, help with utility bills, unemployment applications and tuition assistance, Aguilera said.

Families tell Aguilera that they're moving back to Mexico because there's more work. Aguilera wonders how much worse it might get in the winter.

"I've never seen it this bad," she said. "I know ... they're really struggling, and it is a disaster for them."

The situation is worse in the tiny town of Stratford, where a greater percentage of people are out of work than in any Kings County area except for Home Garden.

Penny Miller, director of the Stratford family resource center, sees it all through her little outpost on the grounds of Stratford School.

In August, the center had given grocery bags to 210 families -- about double the normal number, Miller said. From June 29 to Aug. 14, the center provided lunch to about 25 hungry kids a day.

Miller is concerned about the onset of winter, when she expects more food and clothing needs, especially for warm coats.

"We'll be losing students. Families will have to uproot," she said.

Much of the dried-up land that normally provides work for these towns is in the Westlands Water District, the area hardest hit by pumping restrictions and drought in the Sacramento River delta.

Westlands farmers and workers have banded together in recent months in a series of demonstrations calling for more water supplies.

"The community food banks have more than doubled their demand ... The things that are happening are Depression-era events. They are unique to this area," said Westlands spokeswoman Sarah Woolf.

Woolf said that more dramatic disasters such as freezes have drawn immediate assistance, but that the slow, grinding nature of drought doesn't draw the same attention.

Still, for anyone with an eye to see, the effects are everywhere.

In Avenal, city officials note homelessness on the rise, people living in abandoned houses, even reports of people living in trees.

"There's no water, there's no jobs," said Maria Sandoval, a heath educator at the Avenal Community Health Center.

On its own, the center started distributing food in June and plans to do so every month. Staff are looking into forming an Avenal food bank with several other organizations, Sandoval said.

The misery tempts some to despair.

In Kettleman City, Aguilera feels lucky to have a job. She said she's trying to steer the unemployed into college classes at West Hills, where financial aid can open up a way out.

"For a lot of people, they lose hope and they lose faith," she said.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2432.

(Sept. 13, 2009)