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Resource Report 6 - Gabi's and Hugs QT Food Distro · Resource Report

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Hello and welcome to Resource Report, where we share with you important information about
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local nonprofits and resource organizations that support the community we share, produced
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by Pathways to Agency.
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I'm your host Rainmaker.
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Today features two food distribution groups working together to provide food and needed
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items for kids, houseless individuals, seniors, and the LGBTQ plus communities.
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I'm talking about Gabby's Kids of Gabby's Olympic Cards in Comics and Hugs QT.
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First we will hear about Gabby and a bit about how she got here and then later we will hear
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about how Hugs QT teamed up with this vibrant home place and the wonderful and safe community
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that they are providing of Marvel, DC, Dungeons and Dragons and more.
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Hi so I am here with Gabby at Olympic Cards in Comic and tell me about this business.
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What kind of place is this?
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It's a comic and game and hobby shop and we have an upstairs area that we use kind of
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as a de facto community center.
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That's so cool and we're sitting up in there right now and there's like one, two, three,
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four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, hello, hello, fourteen or so tables up here and people
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come up here and play role playing games, D&D board games, table top, all kinds of stuff
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and it's just really a great community.
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They hang out, yeah, and downstairs y'all are selling all the D&D books and comics.
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It's just really great.
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I love it.
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Me too as it happens.
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Yeah.
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Awesome.
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How long has this business been here?
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I've worked here for 35 years and I've owned it for 31.
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We've been in this location for about 18.
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Wow.
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So you're really, like, really centered in the community.
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I like to think so.
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Cool.
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Gabby's went through a few locations before finding its home here at 4230 Pacific Avenue
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Southeast in Lacey.
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I got my contracting license and still did it myself.
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I didn't, like, lay every piece of everything here.
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I hired people to do it the way a general contractor would, but there is not, I don't
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believe that there is any portion of this shop that I didn't have my hands or my feet
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or something in.
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I helped lay the foundation.
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I helped insulate the roof.
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I put these red beams up.
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Like I was up there with spud wrenches with my legs wrapped around all this stuff, putting
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them up.
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The braces you see, I did that.
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And the community really stepped up, too.
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They would come in and be like, Gabby, looks like she hasn't slept for three days.
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Is there anything we can do?
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I'm like, they'd come in and shovel dirt or they'd come in and straighten and sweep.
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My parents came in and they did all the gardening.
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My father helped level the backyard.
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The shop really was built by this community and the community moved the whole store over
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and then built it up.
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And the city of Lacey was a fantastic partner and advocate for building the store.
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I tried to only hire customers or families of customers.
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I tried to hire local people.
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And there's just, there's a lot of this community.
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There's a lot of love.
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There's a lot of blood, sweat, tears in the shop.
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You'll see where the kids have grown up.
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You'll see their tics on the wall.
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You'll see people where they sign on the beams that help me put the beams up.
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Their signature is places you can't see them because they helped put that stuff up.
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They signed it and now it's in the wall.
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It's a part of this store.
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Gabby was greatly influenced by her father whose traditional values leave a lasting legacy
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of family and commitment and honorability that grounds Gabby's customer and community
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service into the solid foundation we love today.
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Even though she had tough choices to make between her desire to become a teacher and
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her love of this shop where she started working as a teenager.
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One of the things he told me early on was that you could lose everything.
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You could have everything taken from you except your integrity and your education.
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Those are the two things that you're the only one who can give up.
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And I took that to heart.
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And he basically was like, if you give your word to something, you follow through.
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He was very old school in those like, like old school, like family is everything.
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You give your word.
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It means something.
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He was very old fashioned with those things.
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And he used to say, you know, my honor, he used to say, like, I guess my honor comes
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at a price, but it's not this or something like this.
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My honor is worth more than this $2.50.
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Whatever it is, he used to say it was something along those lines.
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But so yeah, so he taught me a lot just by living in the world, walk in his walk.
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And that's something that I definitely, I definitely try and do.
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Through the rough financial beginnings, regular customers supported and inspired Gabby to
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keep going, showing how deeply rooted in the community and fellowship this place really
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is and always has been.
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Early on, who would come in every Wednesday, which is when we'd get our shipment back
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in the days of cash on demand, he handed the UPS guy cash.
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And he would come in and ask what my bill was that week.
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And then he would do, oh, I magically all of a sudden he needed three boxes of magic
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cards, you know, like, oh, no, I just, I need these.
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Like it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that it is exactly how much you need
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to give your C of D. You know, I had a customer who overheard me talking about not being able
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to pay something significant.
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And he happened to get a bonus from Boeing and he just wanted to put money on account
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because he wasn't good at saving.
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So he just like, here's $2,000, just put it on account for me.
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I'll spend it up for the next few months.
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Okay.
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So you just happened to hear me and now you happen to have $2,000.
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But I mean, there was a lot of stuff like that where people would do whatever they needed
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to do to ensure that the store kept going.
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During the pandemic, Gabby's teacher side came out as she doubled down on her commitment
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to keep the community together.
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Being able to start opening up, being able to juggle the needs of the community's mental
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health and the needs of the community's physical health has been very challenging.
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Because I miss all of those kids while they were gone.
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We wrote letters to them.
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We sent them coloring pages.
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They would send them back.
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Like we did everything we could to keep our community.
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I did Zoom classes where like I read stories and like we tried to do everything we could
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to stay connected with all the kids.
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How and when did Gabby's kids get started?
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So Robert Quate runs Thurston County Food Bank.
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Kelly Wilson runs All Kids Win, which originally was called Homeless Backpacks.
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So Robert Coit had asked if we could be a location to give out food bags.
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And we thought, is that true?
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Yeah, we have room.
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And then I was like, hey, wait, we have a cafe now.
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We could do hot meals and then they could take the stuff.
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So they could come in and they could sit and they could have a meal.
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And we chose to do the meals like family style.
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So like we'd bring, what you want to call it, like oatmeal and fresh fruit and yogurt,
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stuff like that.
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And then the family would sit.
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The parents would like serve their kids and get all the stuff and sit down and have this
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meal in the morning.
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And then they'd eat all food.
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And that's kind of where Gabby's kids started.
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We started working with Kelly Wilson at Homeless Backpacks and then this thing happened where
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our community, where I like would put a post and say, hey, if anyone needs this stuff,
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let me know.
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We have this for you.
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There's no reason to be embarrassed.
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There's no reason to be ashamed.
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You're part of our community.
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We want to help you.
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We want to do it with dignity.
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We want your kids to feel like it's a big special event and not supposed to be shamed
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up.
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And then the community started saying, well, here's money.
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Here's food.
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I went to Costco when I bought this thing and I went and did this other thing.
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So what ended up happening was the word got out to help more people and then the community
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gave me more stuff and then we got more people and then the community gave me more stuff.
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And then like it turned into, well, if you're doing this other thing, school's about to
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start, can I donate all this stuff for school supplies?
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And so we'd be like, yeah, sure.
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That sounds great.
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And then we put a post out like, hey, we have school supplies.
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And then everybody would be like, here, have school supplies so that you can help everyone.
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And then there'd be one.
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And so it just became this giant thing where people would just donate all of this stuff.
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And then people started donating money.
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And when it was like five, 10 bucks, it was pretty easy to manage.
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At the point that someone handed me a thousand dollar check, I was like, okay, we need to
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have a charity.
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We have to do something so that I can be transparent with this money and I can show people where
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this money is going and we can be held accountable and all of this stuff.
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And it just, it just grew and grew and grew.
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And we built a little tiny house in the back and followed an outreach center and like the
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community helped me pay for that.
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And then now we have a storage container so we can store stuff so we can actually take
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donations in year round.
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And so it just, it just became this thing that the community saw a need for.
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And so there was both a need and this want to help.
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In Hawaiian, laulima means many hands.
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And so, you know, many hands make light work.
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That's what happens.
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And so it just, it just became this thing.
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And even now we have, you know, we have volunteers that come in and they make food bags and we
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have, we call them our care packages for our travelers.
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That's what we call our underhoused folks that are out in the community that just come
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up to the door.
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We have a little area right here by the tour and they come in and they get bags of food
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or socks or hand warmers or tents or all kinds of stuff that they need.
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Because people donate stuff and people donate money and trust me to use it for whatever
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the need is in the community the most.
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I think one of the things that I like most about Gabby's kids is that there is a phenomenal
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amount of need in our community.
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Because it can be heartbreaking to see how much need is there.
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But because the community has come together and felt this need, because the community
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trusts me to do what's best and trust me to make those decisions, we can also be a
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tertiary resource, I guess, for like Safe Glace, Family Support Center, and Interfaith
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and Stonewall Youth and all this other stuff where we have these marginalized people that
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need stuff in a moment.
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We also make bedpads for foster kids so if they get removed from an emergency situation,
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they have a backpack of stuff for themselves and their stuff isn't in garbage bags.
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So because there's so much oversight by me, we can make emergency things happen.
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And sometimes at any number of our shelters, I say we need this and we don't have time
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for bureaucracy.
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In so much as the community has built the store, this is their home, this is their store.
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There's a lot of ownership if you talk to people in this community, there's a lot of
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ownership about the store.
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Kids that are ostracized, kids that are made fun of at school are celebrated here.
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And that's so important to me.
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I don't always say, because sometimes I can hurt someone's feelings, but like, I have
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jokingly been known to say like, they may be freaks and geeks, but they're my freaks
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and geeks.
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But without the staff, without the family that we have created here at Ripley Nessie,
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they are what bring the energy in, they are what bring a lot of the light in.
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A lot of them just make my life easier.
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Welcome back to Resource Report.
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Let's hear more from Gabby.
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And there was some issues with some of our LGBTQ community feeling safe being downtown.
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And so they came to me and said, well, we could do this thing.
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And originally started out as a, we're going to do it once a month.
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And then we moved it to doing it once a week.
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And so anytime, during any part, people can come in and get food, the baskets.
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Anyone can get food anytime.
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OK.
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But on Tuesdays from, it's like 12 to four ish.
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Four?
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Yeah.
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It's more so LGBTQ knows.
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This is when we can all go and get our stuff at the same time, hang out, build a community,
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things like that.
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So I see on a couple of tables over here, some canned goods, peanut butter, canned
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fruits, packaged bread rolls, stuff like that.
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So people can just come and take what they need.
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I see it all organized by type.
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So we basically, so San Francisco Street Bakery delivers us bread every week or we go and
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pick up bread, but they donate bread every week.
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And then every Tuesday I go or one of us goes to the grocery store and gets fresh veggies
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and things like that.
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And then we have protein in the freezer so they can come and pick.
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We have two tables and you can basically pick five things off each table.
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So those are the more expensive, like chicken, tofu, cheese, stuff like that.
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Whereas this other stuff is more food stable, but you still get some.
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So like a lot of times we'll put celery, potatoes, cheese, butter, chicken.
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And then so they get that and then they can get like on the other table, they can get
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rice and noodles and things like that to kind of make it so they can get through the whole
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week by using substitutes and fresh stuff and canned stuff so they can kind of have
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good stuff all week.
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Oh, that's wonderful.
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And it's so cool that y'all are offering perishable items as well.
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Yeah.
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Well, that was one of the things when they came to us was, hey, we'd really like to have
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fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh proteins, bread without mold, you know, things like
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that.
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And so it just kind of grew from there.
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And so every week on Tuesdays, we get the fresh stuff or we have frozen stuff too sometimes,
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because that's easier for some people and the frozen food is so fresh, but frozen.
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And so it keeps that stuff at a higher, you can hold on to it longer than fresh fruit.
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Right.
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Right.
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But it's like canned.
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Yeah.
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And the perishable items, y'all have like a refrigeration or yeah.
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And so our cafe, it's called Admiral Snap Bar.
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Our cafe, all the money from the cafe goes into Gabby's Kids.
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And someone donated us the fridge and freezer for Gabby's Kids so that we can keep perishables
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in there.
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That's so cool.
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But perishables bought once a week is better than just putting them all in there and then
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getting it any time.
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Definitely.
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Definitely.
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And so what the cafe is, it's like located like in the center up here.
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Yeah.
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Not much to it, but it does the job.
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Nice.
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People can get snacks and things when they're gaming up here and stuff.
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That's so wonderful.
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Because who doesn't want snacks when they're gaming?
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Right.
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I love it.
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We probably go through 40 food boxes a week.
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And so while that adds up, we also are very lucky that we have a community that says,
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here's money, just do whatever, you know, do whatever you need to do to help the community.
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And so with that, I buy like right now we have a bunch of jackets coming in that I ordered
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because people donated.
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You know, someone donated a thousand dollars.
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Oh my goodness.
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That's $20 a jacket that I can find on sale.
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That's a lot of jackets.
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It is.
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That's fancy jackets right there.
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That is.
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On this table behind you, I see some clothes lined up.
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Are those for donation also?
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Okay.
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And they still have their price tags on this.
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This is Keely.
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She's your first paid administrative assistant.
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Paid administrative assistant.
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So she does all the things I can't do because I have to run a shop.
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Oh, what are some of those things that you do?
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I just, here I support the food pantry.
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I'm helping sort out bunches of donations that came in during the holidays.
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I answer emails, help pay utility bills or help people who are asking for help in whatever
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Gabby tells me to do.
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Cool.
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Yeah.
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I saw you back here folding these clothes.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So these are hoping to get the, our back outreach center and stuff set up in such a way that
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Keely can be back there from 12 to five every day, says someone.
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And come and be more specific.
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Like I need a tent.
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I need a sleeping bag.
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I need a blouse and things like that.
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And we have a little house that's our outreach center.
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And then we have a connex that has all our stuff in it.
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Oh, I would love to go out there and see it.
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Yeah.
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Can I go down and see that little place?
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Can you do that?
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Yeah.
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I need to grab my jacket.
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About two months ago.
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Oh yeah.
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I'm kind of, I'm new-ish.
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Okay.
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And it's very, very part time.
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Okay.
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And I came, I've known Gabby for years.
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Yeah.
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And then I am though, I've been the homeless response program manager for the county.
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Oh, really?
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Yeah.
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And then I also ran a young youth and young adult shelter.
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Okay.
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And for five years before that.
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Oh, what was that place?
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Rosie's Place.
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Rosie's Place.
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You hadn't heard of that?
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Yeah.
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Oh, and you were running that.
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Yeah.
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I was running that for about five and a half years.
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You've got some big experience under your belt.
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Yeah.
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And now you're doing this at a little comic shop.
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That's so cool.
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Yep.
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Yep.
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At our jet.
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I ended my time with the county last yesterday.
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Oh, so I go back to your nerd roots.
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I do.
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I had, I needed to be doing something that was direct and really aligned with my values
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and where I could kind of just, you know, march to my own drum.
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Absolutely.
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Which is really hard to do when you're working for the government.
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Yeah.
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But I, I love working with the population of people experiencing homelessness and people
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who are food insecure, just like mutual aid with each other is such a really ever more
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important now than ever before.
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Oh, absolutely.
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I love this group.
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I love just being around them because this is just, they are just volunteering and they
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are just like caring for each other and making sure that people can eat good, healthy food.
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And of course with Gabby, Gabby's big old heart, just like giving them the space and
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the funds to help them do it just warms my heart.
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It keeps me going.
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It's such a healing environment.
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It has.
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I, my girlfriend died in 2016 and I'd come here because I am a big, big old nerd.
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I come here a lot, but that time of grieving I spent, I would just find myself here and
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I would just like wander through the aisles and look at things and I talked to Gabby and
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Oh, I'm getting teary.
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And it just became this safe place and it's a safe place for a lot of people.
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And it's a place where people come to grieve, I think, and feel like, or just come to, even
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if they're sad or they're lost.
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I see that and I know that I've been that.
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So it's pretty, it's pretty important.
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Yeah.
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I have my own roots in fandom society.
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I'm from, I'm usually from New Orleans, Louisiana.
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And my aunt was on the con committee for the very first full con in New Orleans in the
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70s.
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Yeah.
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I was the first con kid.
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Yeah.
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And my first community was the local science fiction convention community.
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And that fandom was just what you describe it, what this place is.
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It was the same thing.
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We all came together and it was just like a good healing environment for me to grow
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up in.
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Yeah.
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So I really get it.
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Yeah.
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I love it.
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Yeah.
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And this also the people who donate are wild.
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They just, people donate so much to this charity cause in my opinion, nerds are either very,
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very, very low income or have a very high, and they're generous and they very love this
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place.
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So this is the little hut that the Outward Setter.
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Yeah.
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We're out here in the parking lot and the very back of the parking lot.
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It's around the corner from the trees right next to the dumpsters.
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And we've got, it's one of those, you go get those little outdoor sheds and it's converted.
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There's a little sign that says, Gatties Kids, G-A-B-I apostrophe S, Kids Outreach Center.
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It's so cute.
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And there's, oh, we're outside.
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Oh, yeah, upstairs.
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So these are, these two cones, this one is just the store.
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That's just like back stock for the store.
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Oh, we've got some, what are those called?
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Train cargo.
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And like cargo containers.
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Cargo containers that shipping containers on that go on trains.
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There's two of them, a short one and a long one.
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And that's your back stock.
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Yeah.
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That's the store back stock.
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And then this is Gabby's Kids.
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And so this is filled with donations.
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Okay.
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And it is a short one.
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Arrr, it's just a little bit of a mess because when the big event happens in December, it's
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just like all hands on deck.
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Yeah.
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And then it's a 12 to 14 to 16 hour day, depending on how many people come through.
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And I would like we're not shuttering the doors until every child who needs a gift gets
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a gift.
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Oh, what is that?
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So that's that what event is that in December you're talking about?
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There's like an annual event where Gabby used to from if I don't know if I'm going to get
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this right.
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So we'll have to fact check, fact check with Gabby.
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But in the past, there was an adoptive family kind of.
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Okay.
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So she also has the adoptive family, but she also has this event that happens in the middle
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of December where you can come in and you get four items per child, something to wear,
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something, something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read.
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So everyone gets something.
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Everybody gets something that they need.
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Everybody gets a book.
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Everybody gets something that they need to wear.
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And so families will come through and it's a huge room filled with donations, toys, like
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really good stuff.
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And this year we did it at a dance studio.
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And so my first year in this position, I volunteered last year, but this year I was also volunteered
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this year, but it was I was there was like 12, 14 hours.
26:00
I was there.
26:01
But I think Gabby got maybe two hours of sleep in 36 hours before the event.
26:07
And we served over 1500 kids for to get things for the holidays or things that they needed.
26:15
And so when all of that is over, we had to get everything out that same night.
26:19
And so it just kind of went through it in there.
26:23
We're sorting it right now.
26:24
Okay.
26:25
And then this is also full of donations.
26:26
So not even usable space, the little building is.
26:29
Yeah.
26:30
And so I'm going to be this week and ongoing like moving things into the conic.
26:34
So we're trying to make sense of it, but it's also like we have to take it upstairs, you
26:39
know, so it just takes time.
26:41
I'm only here usually Tuesdays and I'll be here Tuesdays and Thursdays for only a couple
26:45
of hours.
26:46
So it's, you know, limited labor.
26:48
May I get your name one more time?
26:50
Sure.
26:51
My name is Keely.
26:52
Yeah.
26:53
So walking back inside now, it's a little silly.
26:56
Yeah.
27:04
For Gabby's kids, do you have any volunteer opportunities?
27:07
I mean, what kind of people can come and help us?
27:10
Thank you.
27:11
But people can come on circles.
27:13
People can come and make food bags, things like that.
27:16
So yeah.
27:17
Okay.
27:18
They just need to email this email and let me know why they want to do it, how many hours
27:23
they needed if it's for a school project or center.
27:25
Oh, oh cool.
27:26
That's a good option.
27:27
School project.
27:28
Yeah.
27:29
And that's Gabby's kids.
27:30
SP at Gmail.
27:33
Awesome.
27:36
Erica is one of our fine helpers that does all kinds of stuff, which goes and gets the
27:50
food and just kind of, she's just all around awesome.
27:53
Hi.
27:54
My name is Erica and I am one of volunteers here at the Hugs Queer and Trans Food Country.
28:00
What's it called again?
28:02
The Hugs Queer and Trans.
28:03
We shorten it to Hugs QT.
28:05
You know, it's fun, but the QT is for queer and trans.
28:08
Oh, okay.
28:09
Does Hugs stand for anything?
28:10
No.
28:11
No, just Hugs.
28:12
H-U-G-S.
28:13
H-U-G-S.
28:14
Yep.
28:15
Yep.
28:16
Oh, I love it.
28:17
Okay.
28:18
So what have you got to tell me about this?
28:20
First, that primarily to raise awareness of its existence, we definitely would like to
28:25
grow both in terms of meeting people's resource needs and also the way we are running this.
28:34
It's kind of become a community event as well.
28:37
There's a lot of people hanging out, having socialization and playing games while we run
28:42
this.
28:43
And we think that's a really big, important part of things as well, especially with everything
28:49
going on in the world right now.
28:50
It's very easy to feel isolated.
28:52
And here's a place where it's a pretty low cost, low risk place to come and have some
29:00
interactions with other queer and trans people.
29:03
That's awesome.
29:04
Yeah.
29:05
That's awesome.
29:06
So clarify where Hugs begins and Natty's kids begins.
29:13
Like where's, and then you have the crossover.
29:17
So where are they separate and where do they come together?
29:20
You clarify that.
29:21
Sure.
29:22
Because I was like, oh, there's the feed distribution that Gaddy's does, but now we're talking about
29:27
another organization working with Gaddy's.
29:29
Yeah, there really is a large amount of separation.
29:33
Really the intersection of these is Gabby and Olympic Cards and Comics.
29:39
So yeah, once a lot of us were here with this food pantry and spending time in this space
29:44
and realizing how much else that Gabby and these other programs contribute to, it's just,
29:53
it's an obvious thing to do to start to help out with those as well.
29:57
So really there's nothing formal.
29:59
It's just there is a lot of crossover in the people who participate and volunteer with
30:03
our food pantry, very much people who also are interested in helping out anybody who
30:08
needs resources really.
30:10
And so given some time and effort to some of those other programs that are run out of
30:15
here is very much worth doing.
30:17
And that's, I guess, the extent of the intersection between the organizations.
30:22
So what it sounds like is you guys with, with Hugs, HugsQT, yeah, with HugsQT, we're already
30:33
formulated and getting together and starting and existing, but a lot of y'all hang out
30:39
here also.
30:40
Like you said.
30:41
And then we're like, oh, Gabby's is doing this thing and it's like what we're doing.
30:48
Let's all work together in this space.
30:51
So that's what happened.
30:52
Yep.
30:53
Oh, cool.
30:54
I get it now.
30:55
All right.
30:56
Yeah, just sharing effort is really what it all boils down to.
30:59
Yeah.
31:00
And sharing effort in programs that are helping people who need resources get resources.
31:06
So a really wonderful thing to share effort around.
31:09
Definitely.
31:10
Yep.
31:11
All right.
31:12
Okay.
31:13
And I just wanted to clarify the people that you mentioned from Heart, you mentioned Heart
31:28
Spark Press and Gender Justice League.
31:31
Right.
31:32
Yeah.
31:33
And it sounded like there were people from those groups that started Hugs Food Pantry
31:37
during the pandemic.
31:39
And it looks like they're funders.
31:41
Did they fund hugs?
31:43
That incarnation they did.
31:45
The current incarnation is not funded via those organizations.
31:49
It's generosity from the Gabby's Kids program.
31:52
And then also we are self-donating from our own community as well.
31:59
Just that's not being achieved through...
32:05
There's no specific Heart Spark Press or Gender Justice League.
32:08
We have people donating.
32:09
Right.
32:10
But there were people that originally from those organizations that did start, did help
32:16
to start.
32:17
Correct.
32:18
Yeah.
32:19
Version one, which was during the beginning of the pandemic, that is where a lot of this
32:21
initially got kicked off.
32:23
Okay, cool.
32:26
Yeah.
32:31
So it's just interesting how different organizations connect with one another.
32:36
Yeah.
32:37
Yeah.
32:38
Do you connect with any other organizations?
32:39
Does Hugs connect with any other organizations?
32:42
Not currently, but that definitely...
32:44
Other than the charities that Gabby runs.
32:48
The Gabby's Kids.
32:49
Yeah, definitely.
32:50
We like to cross support.
32:55
I think it's really good.
32:58
So we're still kind of, I wouldn't say infancy, but we're still pretty fresh.
33:02
We just got started right around election time, actually.
33:04
So...
33:05
Last November.
33:06
Yeah, this last November.
33:08
And so, yeah, we don't yet have really any codified partnerships or anything like that.
33:14
But in general, that sort of networking and the community to community interactions and
33:20
strengthening I think is really awesome.
33:22
So if anybody is hearing this and wants to reach out along those lines, absolutely very
33:27
open to that.
33:28
Yeah, fabulous.
33:29
Like, what would be the best method to get in touch with you for that?
33:35
So we do have...
33:36
We have a registration form, but it's just quick and dirty.
33:41
So I can give you a URL that people could get to, to either register for resources or
33:47
to register if they want to either donate or volunteer.
33:52
But it was really put together very utilitarian, not so much of a comment or communication
33:59
channel.
34:00
So we'll have to get something better for that.
34:02
Otherwise, I can give you that URL.
34:04
Yeah, I read.
34:05
That was something I was going to also ask is how can people connect for donating, volunteering,
34:12
or whatever.
34:13
Yeah.
34:14
So for anybody who has needs or would like to volunteer or would like to donate, then
34:19
what I have would be great.
34:21
I can give you a fired URL for electronic copy of the flower and not...
34:36
So okay, anybody who is interested in registering either for resources, to volunteer time or
34:43
to donate resources is welcome to head over to our Google form at bit.ly slash QTPantry.
34:51
That's B-I-T dot L-Y slash Q-T-P-A-N-T-R-Y.
34:57
Awesome.
35:01
Thank you so much.
35:02
That's fabulous.
35:03
Yeah.
35:16
I guess I've been helping with the pantry since the pantry started, I guess.
35:23
I just know that back in like 2020 with the Hugs food pantry, and I learned a lot of the
35:30
stuff through there.
35:32
But we usually help look for stuff to bring out and we set everything out, just set up
35:38
bags and stuff to make sure the deliveries go smoothly.
35:43
And I don't really do the delivery side this time around, but I mainly do the in-person
35:47
stuff.
35:48
But we also do a lot of community building.
35:52
We have a trans gaming hour and things like that for people to just hang out.
35:56
And that's kind of why we like doing it at Gabby's because it's more than just a pantry.
36:01
It's also just a welcoming space for queer and trans people like to come and hang out,
36:07
gather resources, network with each other, play games and just have a good time.
36:11
Oh, that sounds awesome.
36:13
Yeah.
36:14
So if somebody wanted to get in on volunteering.
36:17
Yeah.
36:18
Anybody who's willing to volunteer can show up and we'll talk things through, kind of
36:25
tell you what we're looking for.
36:27
We're always going to need drivers and things like that, because especially as deliveries
36:31
start coming in more and more and we're seeing a rise in those, it would be great to have
36:37
more people on that.
36:38
And obviously, even if you want to volunteer your time in quotations by just coming in
36:43
and playing games and hanging out and making the space more lively, because, you know,
36:48
it's not just food, it's community.
36:49
It's what we're trying to help disperse.
36:53
Creating the community environment.
36:54
That's so awesome.
36:55
Do you want to share your name?
36:57
Oh, I'm Goblin.
36:58
Hi.
36:59
Nice to meet you.
37:00
And you said that there was an hour.
37:02
So it's not like an hour for a sec.
37:04
That's just metaphorically speaking.
37:06
What we do, we're working on having times for us to like just get together, play games
37:11
and step online and just like create like a good...
37:17
Not limit it to just Tuesday.
37:19
Yeah, that way you can, because I know I'm playing games all week where I'm not doing
37:23
this or I'm not at work and, you know, playing with randos online is not always fun.
37:30
So just gaming with friends is what we're trying to do.
37:34
Yeah.
37:35
Are there specific times for that when y'all need up?
37:37
We're just labeled out yet.
37:40
The person who's working on setting that up recently did like a little scheduling quiz
37:45
for us, but we're still working on that.
37:47
So we don't have official time for it yet, but we're getting there.
37:50
Any sort of registration or reaching out to volunteer would be the URL that...
37:55
Yeah, either in person or the Google form that has been given.
38:00
The first stop for anybody who wants to initiate.
38:02
Okay, cool.
38:03
Cool.
38:04
Cool.
38:05
Anybody else have something to share?
38:06
Do you want to talk about lengthy art sharing?
38:08
Yeah.
38:09
So one thing that we're looking to do more often, that was kind of my responsibility,
38:14
but it's a little bit of a struggle because of the current state of affairs of things.
38:20
But we do art shares and we're trying to work on doing skill sharing here.
38:26
So we can have art share for people to just come in, show off, whatever they're working
38:30
on, just kind of promote those sorts of things.
38:35
Promote that creativity because art, especially in our current environment that we see ourselves
38:41
in is a very vital part of not just keeping our erasure away, but also just mental health.
38:49
And on another side, we're trying to do a skill share, which is like practical skills.
38:56
So things like sewing or, you know, like different like foraging guides and things like that
39:02
to be dispersed and talked about, you know, maybe in like a little session during the
39:06
pantry time in order to help that because dispersing free information is one of the
39:12
best things that we can do to fight capitalism.
39:14
Yeah.
39:15
Okay, and that's like what I'm doing here is making sure that your information gets
39:20
shared with the broader community.
39:22
So you understand here?
39:23
Absolutely.
39:24
I'm on the same page about information sharing.
39:28
That's why the zine is free.
39:30
Information should be free.
39:34
Yeah.
39:37
Honestly, I feel like one of our biggest hurdles has been getting the word out to people because
39:46
we had some flyers that were made for us.
39:50
But I don't know where those, I don't know if anyone ended up printing those out or anything
39:58
or distributing them, but we do have.
40:02
And it's, you know, it's just been, it's been tough to get the word out to people because mostly it's just through word of mouth and just sending people the Google forms link through Discord and such.
40:15
And so thank you for doing this.
40:16
It's, it'll definitely help get more people to our services.
40:22
That's the plan.
40:23
I didn't get your name.
40:26
Do you want to give your name?
40:27
Yeah, sure.
40:28
My name's Edward.
40:29
I'm just a kind of volunteer here.
40:31
I'm just here to help out.
40:32
Awesome.
40:33
Who's winning?
40:35
Nobody so far.
40:37
Nobody.
40:38
I've got some vampires.
40:41
We've got some mobsters over here.
40:42
Yeah.
40:43
We've got goblins and we got pirates.
40:45
Oh, I like pirates.
40:47
I've got one piece on my hat.
40:49
Nice.
40:50
Now y'all are playing Magic the Gathering.
40:53
What kind of decks have y'all got?
40:56
So Peach is borrowing one of Goblin's decks.
41:01
Admiral Brass likes to steal stuff from other flayers and cheat out stuff out of the graveyard.
41:10
My guy is kind of just, you know, put vampires on the field and then if they die, they turn
41:16
into stronger vampires.
41:20
My deck is the Reviteers pre-con.
41:24
It's unmodified and its whole goal is that it wants to have a bunch of big creatures
41:29
that it pays for less because the commander lets them do what's called Blitz, which is
41:34
they don't have the battlefield, they have haste and then at the end of the turn I sacrifice
41:39
them and draw a card.
41:53
Anything else that you want to share?
41:57
Yes.
41:59
So it's worth pointing out that we are definitely organizing and structuring things physically
42:07
here so that people who do want to come and have the community or want to come and pick
42:12
up food can do so in a politically safe space.
42:17
A lot of effort and planning goes into that and while nowhere can be perfectly safe, that
42:26
is really one of our top priorities for setting this whole situation up.
42:32
That is also worth making sure people know.
42:34
Oh absolutely, that's important to know.
42:37
Y'all did have some, when y'all were in the pandemic time in 2020, y'all did have some
42:55
donations from the Thurston County Food Bank.
42:59
The Thurston County Food Bank provided some food for y'all in 2020?
43:03
Yeah, they, yep, again I was not there during that time so I'm only going off second hand
43:10
for information for you here, but yeah they provided food boxes which the Helx food pantry
43:17
redistributed to people who were not able to go down to the bank.
43:20
I think it was a lot of that.
43:21
If I'm not mistaken, Olympia shut down the buses for a period of time there so that rendered
43:28
a lot of our community unable to get to the Thurston County Food Bank.
43:32
So that I think was a big motivation for a lot of what that original version was trying
43:39
to achieve.
43:40
And then also since we're talking about the original version, I forgot, there was also,
43:45
and there may have been several, but there was also funding via some community grants
43:49
for that first version which that is not the case now.
43:52
Now this is strictly our own community donating and then generosity of Gabby and the Gabby's
43:58
Kids program.
43:59
Yeah, and then y'all are also growing your food too.
44:03
We have plants too this year.
44:04
This is going to be our first summer where we're really intense about that.
44:07
So but yeah, we, a lot of the collective is very interested in producing rather than by
44:17
what resources we're distributing.
44:19
So yep, we are definitely working on that.
44:21
Yeah, and that's one of the volunteer opportunities too.
44:25
You said something about the y'all are renting spaces for community garden, you said?
44:31
Yeah, it's not a very organized and I don't mean that to sound the way it sounds, as I
44:36
say that, that's with intention.
44:39
Really in any organizing overhead is going into food distribution day.
44:43
The growing of the food right now is kind of not organized beyond stating goals of what
44:50
we're looking to acquire and then letting individuals self-organize how they want to
44:55
meet those goals.
44:56
So from that structure, we've got several people and groups of people who have, you
45:04
know, they're a bed in their yard or like I have rented a couple of community beds.
45:08
Some other people have rented community beds.
45:10
It's very distributed and collective.
45:13
And yeah, so really anybody who wants to volunteer that way would definitely want to reach out
45:20
to us.
45:21
But then again, the real emphasis here is that's a low overhead planning situation.
45:28
It's really people doing what works for them in terms of growing.
45:32
So cool.
45:34
And that's only one way to volunteer.
45:36
Tell them about the other ways to volunteer.
45:38
Yeah.
45:39
So the one that I'll always promote first is deliveries.
45:44
So we have transportation challenges or ailments, et cetera.
46:03
So we do do deliveries, but we're very limited by how many volunteers we have to drive and
46:10
run.
46:11
So that's a priority.
46:16
And then I'll also throw out with that to anybody who would like to help out with that
46:19
but doesn't drive.
46:21
We do do hearings because we have people who have physical ailments that allow them to
46:26
still drive, but maybe they can't go up and down stairs.
46:29
So anybody who wants to help delivery but doesn't have a license still should consider
46:35
reaching out because we can pair them up as a runner with somebody who was a driver.
46:38
Boy, a sweet combo.
46:41
Yeah, for sure.
46:43
And let's see, other volunteer opportunities.
46:46
There was something about packing.
46:48
Yep.
46:49
So during our community event from 12 to 4, like that's and you know, that's worth calling
46:55
out as a volunteer opportunity to is just participate with community.
47:00
And nobody even needs to register for that.
47:02
I just need to show up and we'll be here.
47:04
But yeah, around three o'clock, whoever is around generally starts working together to
47:08
pack up all of the deliveryers.
47:10
So that's another thing that can be done.
47:13
Also, you know, it's probably best to stop in and participate in the community first.
47:19
But for anybody who's done that, there's also things like if somebody was interested in
47:24
doing skill shares or art sharing, any sort of those things, people are welcome to do
47:30
as well.
47:31
And just come up and go even hang out.
47:33
Yes, absolutely.
47:34
Yeah, that's holding the community space is what it's called there, right?
47:38
Absolutely.
47:39
Cool.
47:40
Yeah.
47:41
And right now you all have a Google form that's used for the volunteering as well as the other
47:56
other things and you know what you need.
48:00
Yeah, right now the that Google form handles everything from registering to receive resources
48:07
to donating resources to volunteering.
48:10
I am currently working on like more robust registration system that's going to be a full
48:15
website with a web app and that allow us to have it organized a little better and also
48:20
have more information for the public as well than what we can squeeze into a Google form.
48:27
That sounds awesome.
48:28
Yeah.
48:29
What's that website going to look like?
48:31
It's primarily just going to be a registration form still, but there'll be space as well
48:35
for bulletins or links to you know, you had mentioned earlier a link to this interview
48:41
that probably be a useful thing to be there.
48:43
Other contact information.
48:45
Yeah.
48:47
Give us a lot of control over we really can have whatever we want there at that point.
48:51
But primarily, it's just going to be a registration form.
48:56
And on the Google form, and I imagine it'll be on the website as well that the list of
49:01
food and other items.
49:06
It's like you can mark off what you brined or how does that work?
49:10
So current and it will work largely the same even the moment move past the forum.
49:15
But yeah, currently people are selecting what choice proteins they want.
49:19
And there's also a spot for them to let us know of any dietary restrictions that's like
49:23
critically important.
49:25
So both of those will be in the new system as well.
49:29
So in the new system, we're gonna add another section.
49:32
So right now we only have one protein choice.
49:35
We're going to set it up.
49:36
So you there'll be two sections, one for preferred proteins and one for acceptable proteins is
49:41
so that if we just don't have exactly Oh, that's a good.
49:45
That's great.
49:46
Yeah, there's been a couple of days where we didn't have the right stock to meet everybody's
49:49
choices.
49:50
So that'll allow us to kind of cushion through some of that.
49:52
So that's awesome.
50:04
Also I wanted to clarify the reason why this got started was because that some of the community
50:13
members in the LGBTQ family were feeling not safe at the community, the Thurston County
50:19
Food Bank, and I just wanted to have clarification around that and were any steps taken to address
50:26
that?
50:27
Yeah, I cannot say because I don't know the details of whatever situation was happening
50:32
back then.
50:33
I know that it was whatever was going on was around 2019.
50:37
I know that that somebody did reach out to the Thurston County Food Bank and I believe
50:46
to the degree that they were able to that whatever corrective measures were needed were
50:51
put in place.
50:52
But you know, just like us, they're all volunteer.
50:56
So there's only so much control that can be exercised over volunteer staff.
51:01
And I think some people the fact that this is trans and queer organized and run is something
51:10
that gives a lot of people comfort in how they're going to be treated in the space.
51:15
So really what I'm trying to do here is really say that to my knowledge, the Thurston County
51:21
Food Bank has taken care of whatever issues were highlighted at that time, which was several
51:28
years ago now.
51:30
But nonetheless, a lot of us are really big into buy us for us.
51:34
So for sure.
51:36
Okay, thank you for that.
51:39
Yeah.
51:56
And what just to make sure what is the best way to what are the different ways to reach
52:01
out to on the contact form on the Google form?
52:05
There's email, text, signal and discord.
52:07
Is that still accurate?
52:09
So that's not so that is in that form.
52:12
And it is currently accurate what that contact information for is actually for people registering
52:17
not to contact us.
52:19
So those are the platforms we're currently willing to communicate with keep on.
52:25
We are going to move with the new system that I was describing earlier to it will be limited
52:30
to email.
52:32
This is going to simplify a lot of the overhead for us now that we're growing.
52:36
We send out notifications and stuff like that when deliveries are done.
52:39
We occasionally do polling and things like that have everything in a single communications
52:44
channel is going to help us out on a lot.
52:47
Make it simpler.
52:48
And y'all don't have currently a social media.
52:53
Not anything that I would commit to because of the volunteer nature of it.
52:56
I work on it when I have the time.
52:58
But I do think that within the month or so, I would be switching over.
53:01
I'm getting pretty close with it.
53:03
But yeah, like I said, it really boils down to my availability to work on it.
53:09
Yeah, awesome.
53:10
When you have that up and running or like right before that, give me a heads up and
53:14
I can post that on my Facebook.
53:16
Oh, for sure.
53:17
Yeah, thank you.
53:18
Everybody will know.
53:19
So all right.
53:20
So thank you so much, Erica.
53:23
That's right.
53:26
Erica Winsong.
53:27
Yeah.
53:28
Okay.
53:29
Thank you.
53:43
You can check out the current Google form for hugs QT pantry at bit.ly slash QT pantry
53:54
and swing by Gabby's for fun food books and games.
53:58
So the new website for hugs QT will be posted on pathways to agencies platforms.
54:05
You can also make donations to Gabby's kids on their Facebook page at Gabby's kids OCC.
54:25
That's it for today's resource report produced by pathways to agency at pathways to agency.
54:32
We are driven by the belief that everyone should have the tools and support to achieve
54:36
their goals and thrive in their communities.
54:40
Our mission is to bridge the gaps in understanding accessibility and trust by connecting individuals
54:46
to resources and sharing information and processes that can lead to personal and community growth
54:55
resource report offers information about existing and emerging nonprofits and resource organizations.
55:02
Find out more at pathways to agency dot o RG.
55:17
Chaos radio is not responsible or liable for any views or opinions expressed in the
55:22
interviews conducted by resource report till next time and thanks for listening.
55:30
With her permission, a few clips of Gabby's personal story with her own words were used
55:36
from a documentary by Omnibuddy that she provided me.
55:40
If you would like to learn more, please visit our website at www.pathways to agency dot
55:47
o RG where you will find the link and give the creator a like share and subscribe.
55:53
You can also donate to Gabby's kids there as well as her own website, of course.