Photo courtesy of SBHF.
Victoria Montoya. Photo courtesy of Annette Cain with the San Benito Health Foundation.
Victoria Montoya. Photo courtesy of Annette Cain with the San Benito Health Foundation.

Information provided by the San Benito Health Foundation

On May 2, 2023, Victoria Montoya received the Outstanding Migrant Health Center Board Member Award at the 2023 National Association of Community Health Center’s Conference for Agricultural Worker Health. This year’s conference was being held in Seattle, Washington.

According to NACHC’s Interim President and CEO, Rachel Gonzales-Hanson, traditionally a special part of the conference honors those among us who have given dedicated service in Migrant Health and whose leadership has helped move the nation toward a stronger, more equitable health system that respects the dignity, culture, and work of all people.

Victoria Montoya is one of those dedicated individuals. Victoria has been a board member of the San Benito Health Foundation for over 18 years, and she served on the National Advisory Council on Migrant Health from February 2012 to May 2016.

SBHF boardmember Arcadio Viveros was chosen as the Conference Artist for the commemorative art that will be auctioned off for scholarships to children of agricultural workers. Photo courtesy of Annette Cain with the San Benito Health Foundation.
SBHF boardmember Arcadio Viveros was chosen as the Conference Artist for the commemorative art that will be auctioned off for scholarships to children of agricultural workers. Photo courtesy of Annette Cain with the San Benito Health Foundation.

Victoria has always been a voice and advocate for “families who follow the crops.” She knows what their needs are firsthand because her parents migrated from Mexico to Ohio, Michigan, Idaho, and the northern part of Texas. It was in Texas that Victoria began picking cotton at 8-years-old! In 1957, when she was a teenager, they settled in the agricultural community of Hollister, California.

Victoria served as a community organizer in the early 1970’s when local Latinos in Hollister saw a need for healthcare and social services for their underserved community. She was the one who gathered petitions from the farmworkers to create a health center. She was their translator who expressed their needs. It is from her efforts along with other community members that the first iteration of our San Benito Health Foundation came to be.

SBHF President and CEO, Rosa Vivian Fernandez, and Board Members, Victoria Montoya, Bonita Villalobos-Rivera and Arcadio Viveros are attending this year’s National Conference for Agricultural Worker Health.

In addition to Victoria’s award, Arcadio was chosen as the Conference Artist for the commemorative art that will be auctioned off for scholarships to children of agricultural workers.