Maya Valentine

Photo Editor

The Washington Post

On National Geographic: Amid a hunger crisis, Houston struggles to keep food on people's tables

Location: Washington, DC

Nationality: African American

Biography: Maya Nicole Valentine is an Afro-Latina, Chicago born, female photo editor and visual storyteller. She is currently a Photo assignment editor at The Washington Post. Prior to this, she completed the first Visura Mentorship program, a photo... MORE

Kimberline Rivas and Lawrence W... needy. View Article

Kimberline Rivas and Lawrence Walker, two members of Lucille’s 1913’s kitchen staff, prepare meals to be distributed for free across Houston. Since March, Lucille’s, a popular local restaurant, has been making hundreds of meals a day for the needy.

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People wait in their cars at NR...ds, from apples to frozen milk.

People wait in their cars at NRG Stadium to receive goods from the Houston Food Bank. The food bank has been giving out more than a million pounds of food a day, more than twice its usual volume. The cars drive past several tents, each one with a separate set of foods, from apples to frozen milk.

Chris Williams inside Lucille&a...uis and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chris Williams inside Lucille’s, the restaurant he founded in memory of his great-grandmother, who was a chef in Dallas. She served her segregated community and cooked for Black icons like boxer Joe Louis and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Left: Tom Ashworth sorts throug...nd package it for distribution.

Left: Tom Ashworth sorts through boxes of raisins at the Houston Food Bank’s headquarters. Called “Mr. Tom” by his fellow workers, he is said to volunteer over 2,000 hours a year.

Right: A Houston Food Bank truck carrying peppers and hundreds of pounds of other food arrives at the Power Center. Volunteers with Windsor Village United Methodist Church help unload the truck and package it for distribution.

Volunteers give out food at the...urch and the Houston Food Bank.

Volunteers give out food at the Power Center at a food drive run by Windsor Village United Methodist Church and the Houston Food Bank.

Menda de la Cruz, left, and Isa...ds to their families in Manila.

Menda de la Cruz, left, and Isabelita Gonzalez pick up food from the Houston Food Bank at NRG Stadium. The pair, who moved to the U.S. from the Philippines 20 years ago, said they plan to mail some of the goods to their families in Manila.

Left: A truck from the Houston ...package the items for delivery.

Left: A truck from the Houston Food Bank arrives at the Power Center with hundreds of pounds of food.
Right: Houston Food Bank workers use forklifts to move large palettes of food and drink from the warehouse to an assembly line, where volunteers package the items for delivery.

Left: Marcela Hernande... the food drive at NRG Stadium.

Left: Marcela Hernandez and her three children, Mainor, Juana, and Daniela, wait at the Houston Food Bank’s walk-up tent at NRG Stadium. The family arrives on foot, with a shopping cart in tow.
Right: Vincent Bufford, a truck driver who works with the Houston Food Bank, waits at the food drive at NRG Stadium.

Volunteers at the Houston Food ...ood and drink for distribution.

Volunteers at the Houston Food Bank’s headquarters work in an assembly line to ready food and drink for distribution.

Left: A volunteer carr...by the Emergency Aid Coalition.

Left: A volunteer carries a plastic bag containing food to a car waiting at NRG Stadium. The Houston Food Bank’s distribution runs from 9 to 11 a.m., and cars form a long, snaking line through the parking lot.
Right: Volunteer Jim Barham hands out brown paper bag lunches to the hungry at a meal window run by the Emergency Aid Coalition.

Left: Nnenna Ochuru, l...n Houston's Third Ward.

Left: Nnenna Ochuru, left, and Jonay Hulin, right, the owners of Exchange to Change, agreed to house a community fridge at their thrift shop in the Third Ward.
Right: Jonay Hulin (cc) at Exchange to Change in Houston's Third Ward.

Chris Williams, left, and Raque...ince the start of the pandemic.

Chris Williams, left, and Raquel Seymone deliver meals across Houston for Williams’ non-profit, Lucille’s 1913. He and his team have donated more than 100,000 meals to first responders and seniors since the start of the pandemic.

Left: A plant at the c...p food at the community fridge.

Left: A plant at the community fridge and garden at Exchange to Change, a thrift store in Houston’s Third Ward.
Right: Anyone can donate or pick up food at the community fridge.

Bobby Jean Dickerson, 73, occas...ke the Emergency Aid Coalition.

Bobby Jean Dickerson, 73, occasionally stays with his son but mostly lives without a home and subsists on donations from organizations like the Emergency Aid Coalition.