Hundreds of families gathered in East Oakland for El Tímpano’s inaugural ‘Feria de Recursos’

On Saturday, April 20th, more than 600 people gathered in Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in East Oakland for El Tímpano’s inaugural Feria de Recursos. Adults connected with staff representing 30 local organizations providing services ranging from immigration legal aid and ESL classes to emergency preparedness and support for migrant students. Meanwhile children waited in line to get their faces painted or take their shot at bursting a giant rainbow piñata in the shape of an ear – El Tímpano’s logo. The event served as a celebration of the 5th anniversary of our Spanish-language texting platform and the launch of our Guía de Recursos, a digital guide to organizations serving Latino and Mayan immigrants in Alameda County.

Lea esta historia en español.

To commemorate the community we’ve developed over the last five years, El Tímpano invited attendees to participate in a photo booth filled with festive props that included a microphone, cell phone, birthday cake and of course, another giant ear. Once participants received their photographs, we asked them to write how El Timpano has affected their lives on paper balloons. We received notes of gratitude from our community members, with many thanking us for the information we provide, and others sharing their appreciation for help we offered in their time of need. By the end, our gallery wall was afloat with the faces and messages of El Timpano’s growing community.

El Tímpano’s Hiram Alejandro Durán captured the day in photos.

Voces Maya, an outreach team of East Bay Sanctuary Covenant dedicated to informing and providing resources to Mam and Latinx communities, distributed literature and signed people up for their services. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

[El Tímpano gives me] the security to face life’s challenges as a family.
ELvin Jarguín

A child listens for instructions from El Tímpano staff on how to participate in the photo booth activity. Our team took two instant photos of each participant – one to place up on the wall with their testimonial and one for them to bring home in a celebratory frame. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

El Tímpano has helped us to understand that there are groups and people available to help and support people in need.
Lupe y Mary

More than 600 people filled Peralta Hacienda Historical Park over the course of the day. The six-acre park is nestled in a residential neighborhood a few blocks north of East Oakland’s Fruitvale District. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

While the piñata smashing unfolded nearby, some children opted to paint a construction paper recreation of El Tímpano coloring sheets designed by Bay Area artist Breena Nuñez. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

I’m always receiving information from El Tímpano. They inform us of the changes that are happening in the community. I never ignore the advice they give me.
Lydia Yanez

Feria de Recursos attendees received complimentary tacos catered by Tacos El Último Baile – a popular Mexican establishment in Oakland’s Fruitvale Village. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

Etel Calles, Community Outreach Coordinator at El Tímpano, emceed the dozens of raffles that took place throughout the duration of the event. Participants visited community-based organizations at booths and collected stickers for the passports. Once they had enough stickers, they could enter the raffle. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

A family takes a break under the shade of canopies to eat a lunch of tacos, refried beans and yellow rice from Tacos El Último Baile. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

[El Tímpano gives me] guidance on important issues relevant to immigrants.
Mayra Ortiz

Myron Caringal, a volunteer at the resource fair, snaps instant film photos of event attendees. More than 300 people participated in the photo booth over the course of the day. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

A child places her balloon and picture on the booth wall. El Tímpano staff encouraged event attendees to share how the community news organization has impacted them, and what resilience means to them. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

El Tímpano Founding Director Madeleine Bair explains the photo booth activity to attendee Joaquin Ruiz. In his balloon testimonial, Ruiz wrote, “El Tímpano has helped us a lot with information about our [immigration] case and we are very grateful.” Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

El Tímpano’s impact on my life is all of the information that they provide that allows me to be informed and up-to-date on the information I don’t know. It allows me security.
Did not provide names

Families played cornhole in an open field in the center of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park while food vendors and local organizations surrounded them. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

Children watch in awe as Pinky La Payasita forms ridges and folds to create their balloon animals. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

It makes me feel good to be together with my community.
Yesenia

Matt Zhou and Michael Alvarenga, volunteers at the resource fair, hang the giant ear piñata at the center of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

Children descend on the ear-shaped piñata at the first sight of candy. Some clung to the piñata and others rolled candy into the folds of their shirts to maximize the amount they could hold. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

Erica Hellerstein, Senior Labor and Economics Reporter at El Tímpano, helps a family fill out their passport with their name and number so they can be entered into the various raffles during the event. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

Halfway through the event, Martha Calmo Ramirez, Mam Engagement Coordinator at El Tímpano (left), felt compelled to change from her El Tímpano t-shirt into an Indigenous Mayan hand woven top and skirt. “It was a way to represent my community and for them to identify me, but also I felt pride in myself and pride that my people were wearing their traditional clothing,” she said. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

El Tímpano has been a huge help for my community (Maya Mam).
irma cruz

Attendees explored the booths and grounds of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park. The park is known as the birthplace of Oakland and marks the first occupation by people of European descent. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

Thirty local agencies and nonprofits participated, ranging from Voces Maya and the East Bay Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation to CURYJ, the Oakland Public Library, and the Unity Council. Brighter Beginnings conducted blood pressure tests and distributed free blood pressure monitors provided by the Happy Heart campaign at Alameda County. Tech Exchange contributed 20 Chromebook laptops to the raffle giveaway, along with t-shirts, school supplies, and gift baskets from several other organizations.

Pinky la Payasita’s assistant paints a child’s face with a giant snake. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

Throughout the day, many people, including several staff from tabling organizations, commented on the large turnout from the local Mam community. Martha Calmo Ramirez, Mam Engagement Coordinator at El Tímpano, said she was grateful to local digital radio station Radio B’alam for broadcasting several Facebook livestreams before and during the event to invite members of the Mam community to attend.

“Seeing the Mam community walk in with their kids took me back home [to Guatemala] because I was seeing myself as a kid running around,” she said.

A child picks up their ice cream cone from Nieves Cinco de Mayo, a local ice cream and elote vendor in Oakland’s Fruitvale Village. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Durán for El Tímpano/CatchLight Local/Report for America corps member

[El Tímpano’s impact] has been giving me hope every day.
The Lopez Cordon Family

El Tímpano Founding Director, Madeleine Bair says it’s cultivating this feeling of belonging that she’s most proud of when she thinks about what El Tímpano has accomplished over the years. And it’s all thanks to ongoing collaborations – from the community organizations and the partners who helped spread the word, to the food vendors and the hundreds of families who came out.

“The relationships we’ve built in our community are El Tímpano’s greatest strength, and those relationships were on full display at the Feria,” she said. “There is no better way we could have celebrated the community that is the foundation of all that we do.”

El Tímpano’s 5th Anniversary Party & Resource Fair was supported by a grant from the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency.