CFSF Spotlight: Triumph Teen Life CenterCFSF Spotlight:
Silvia Alvarez grew up as a child of seasonal farmworkers in Central California. Years later, she married and moved to Skagit County, where she found remarkable similarities to her hometown. Here, she saw Latino families were facing the same challenges she experienced growing up, and she wanted to help.
In 2022, Sylvia helped found the Triumph Teen Life Center in Mount Vernon, Washington, with the goal of helping Latino families and teens.
“I wanted to be part of the change. If we want our kids to be successful, if we want our families to have the right tools to succeed, then we need to be providing those tools.”
In the beginning, the group served just 20 families. But the work caught the eye of Food Lifeline, who offered the group funding through its Community Food Sovereignty Grant program to build a community garden and start a food pantry.
“Food Lifeline has a been a big blessing for our community. They funded our first year, and they’re funding our second year.”
Today, these funds are helping the group purchase locally grown foods that are culturally relevant.
“We’ve been able to partner with local farmers and provide our families with quality food. These are good, organic vegetables grown by our farmers, our Latino farmers. So we’re helping not only our families, but our farmers as well.”
Thanks to this work, the group serves between 150-180 families every month. In June, they will open their new “Mercado”, a free grocery store that will be staffed by teens in the program.
“This is their community, and their families. It’s a way to empower them and let them become part of the bigger change.”
On a recent visit, Washington Governor Jay Inslee called the program “A safe haven for our families and our children”.
And that’s exactly the goal of Silvia Alvarez and her team.