Perla, Evicted as a Child, Now Organizing to Give Gifts at Our Place

Crystal Gomez, who works at Our Place, was asking friends and family if anyone knew any businesses they could contact to participate in the family shelter’s holiday gift giving program. 

“Usually a lot of of businesses put up a tree and people, their customers, will buy a gift for somebody in the tree,” Perla Gomez said during a recent interview from the checkout room at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno.

“So my sister’s like, do you guys know any businesses that would be interested because it's been a rough couple years? And I was, I kind of was like, well, I don't really know a lot of business owners, so I kind of stayed quiet. And I was like, ‘could we do it like as a school? Like maybe we could do it at the journalism school?’ And she said as long as families are getting presents, you know, it doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be a business, but that's how it's been done previously.”

It was worth a shot. Perla emailed her colleagues, hoping a few might be willing to participate.  She says she got five responses in the first ten minutes.   “So I was like, okay, we'll do a family. And then I had like another five and then three more. So I was like, we have 13 and my sister's like, oh, okay, then you could probably help two families.”  She added a few friends to the initiative to where she’s now buying gifts for four families.  As part of the program the families have written Christmas lists for their kids to get special presents. 

She’s happy she went ahead and did the group email. “I was a little bit shy to put it out there at first because I wasn't sure how to word it. So I wasn't sure if people would take me seriously, but I was excited. I think this is special because when people ask for help, they usually ask for the necessities, like just food, shelter and things to help them survive,” Perla said. “So when you give them something out of their way, it just helps people restore their humanity. The real gift is giving.”

Perla, born and raised in the area, and a graduate of North Valleys High School, speaks from a lived experience of hardships growing up.  This included moving repeatedly and several evictions.

“The first time I was evicted, I was in sixth grade, I think. I had moved out, my parents separated in fourth grade, but then they got back together and right when they got back together, we got evicted and then my parents separated again. So it was just a lot of moving and I didn't really realize like why we got evicted. It was just like, oh whatever, I'm moving again.”

She remembers being upset and confused even though others in her family helped. 

“We didn't get to take a lot of our stuff. We had to leave a lot of our stuff there.  I was just like confused. Like why, you know, why do we have to leave? That was like the house I grew up in. We had an apartment before that, which I was too young to remember. Before that we had a little apartment, then we lived with our aunts. It was like 10 people in one house. And then we moved into this place and this is where I called home. I had a slide in the backyard. So when we left I was very upset because that had felt like hope. And I feel like I haven't felt at home since that place because we were moving back and forth.”

Her own father has been unhoused, as even though he works hard and makes ends meet usually, he has suffered from alcoholism.  Perla says this has increased her empathy for the unhoused.  

“One time we got evicted when I was like 15 and my dad stayed at that place,” Perla remembers, of her father surviving as best he could.  “So he'd hop in through the window and we'd follow him and he was in that place, but he didn't like to ask for help.”

Perla finds rising prices alarming.  In addition to her UNR job, she’s been a server at a local chain restaurant, and now a bartender at a nightclub.  

Perla is not surprised it’s often those who have struggled who are the most generous to those in need. 

“I feel like because you know what it feels like to feel hopeless,” she said.  “It’s easy to empathize with people to understand where they're coming from. Even if it's not the same story, you know like how hard it is to feel hopeless or sad or heartbroken.” 

“I think it's awful,” Perla said of rising rents. “I think a person with a regular salary it's hard enough for them. And most people don't have a regular salary. I'm single and it's hard to afford a place by yourself. I can't imagine with having kids or just not having a consistent job, especially during these times.”

She said she was inspired by an Our Town Reno article once on the importance of just talking to people who are unhoused.  She goes by the area behind the Peppermill Casino, where just next to a park with tents, there are some new luxury apartments.  “I see a lot of people working. I see a lot of people reading, like educating themselves, people with cell phones, they just can't afford a house. I’m like, like what is going on? Like we all see have a problem right here,” she said of the juxtaposition. 

“These studios go for 2000. So I think it's just very ridiculous. Our priorities are not focused on the right things in Reno.” 

She recommends others to do what she’s done with their own workplaces. “I feel like it's worth it. I think it's important to ask and even if you're feeling nervous, it's really nice to give back and the worst that can happen is people say no and that's it. Like, nothing else can happen, but nobody's gonna beat you up for trying to help anybody. So I think just go for it. And there's somebody that's in a tough situation right now that you could help while you're okay.”

Our Town Reno reporting, December 2021

Savannah, Feeling Squeezed and Facing Debilitating Move due to Jacobs Buyout Spree

Deferred Agenda Item with Looming Sale

Savannah, a resident of the Gibson apartments, has heard the building’s sale to Jacobs Entertainment will be finalized before the end of the year. This means she has no idea how long her convenient and cozy apartment which costs her $970 per month with utilities will still be an option for her. She decided to speak out at the most recent Reno City Council meeting, even though the agenda item concerning her future, C1, with Jacobs Entertainment requesting the abandonment of a right of way in the Church Lane, Stevenson Street and West Second Street area , was then pushed back to the next meeting on January 12th.

That might be too late for her at that point, though.

“I had a lease all the way until August of next year, and then just like a month ago, they sent us all these letters to sign to take the lease to month to month,” Savannah explained. “And then we found out that, yeah, they're selling the property, it's set to close, and we're probably gonna be offered eviction notices on the first of January telling us to leave.”

She’s trying to see if she can get any help from lawyers pro bono or empathy from city council members. She wonders if there could be a zoning issue due to part of the plan being the expansion of a so-called entertainment district.

“We've kind of been looking at laws and seeing if there's anybody who could do like pro bono work and help us kind of figure out if there's any route we can take to protecting our home,” Savannah said. “For the most part, we haven't gotten any solid information about what we can do. So we're just kind of talking to the city council members and seeing if they can do anything from their end to stop the sale.”

With city council members and Mayor Hillary Schieve posing with casino mogul Jeffrey Jacobs at different events including on bulldozers set to demolish motels, as well as approving without barely any conditions what the developer keeps on seeking before the council, that seems like a long shot.

“I really like my apartment. It's my home. This is the first apartment that I've lived in by myself,” Savannah said. “Before this, I had roommates and lived with family. It’s really significant to me personally. Also, it's just a great building and the fact of the matter is in Reno, we don't have a lot of housing options that are inexpensive. My rent is 875. And then with utilities it's 970. So I don't know where I would live and, you know, I wouldn't wanna live too far away from my work or too far away from school. So yeah, I don't know what's gonna happen.”

Fearing for Her Future and for Her Neighbors

The Gibson apartment are also part of Reno’s history, more and more of which seems to be discarded during this current gentrification push.

“It’s definitely an older building,” Savannah explained. “I think it was built in like 1910 or something like that, so like a prewar building, and on the inside it's very cozy. It has like a really homey feel to it. Everybody kind of knows everybody else too. Like, we all have our neighbors that we hang out with and, you know, everybody talks, there's only like maybe 15 of us who live in the building. My apartment specifically is actually pretty big . It used to be from what our landlord told us, it used to be like a boarding house for a school, and then it got converted into singular apartments.”

She said some other residents don’t even know what’s happening while others are already trying to find new places.

“My one friend who lives down the hall, she has been like trying to find another place. And she's like, I don't know. She's like, ‘I'm gonna give up, I'm gonna live in like a house with five other people because there's no other options.’ A lot of the people who live here are families.  I know the lady who lives down the hall from me, she has two babies. And they only live in one bed. And so I don't know, how would she be able to find a two bed, you know, you just won't and you know, a lot of the people here work downtown and it's convenient because it's right there. So I just don't know where all these people would go or, you know, how they would commute or anything.”

Savannah works six days a week, up to 40 hours at a downtown motel, in addition to being a student, and she only makes $13.25 an hour, meaning her relatively cheap rent already eats up half her income.

“If I do get kicked out of here because it gets sold honestly, I'll probably have to like find two or three roommates and move further out of town, which I really don't wanna do,” she said. “I hate driving. I'm terrible at it.”

“The Gibson apartments that I live in are actually connected kind of to this other building that is registered as a historical landmark and that was built by the guy who actually lives in here, his family built it. And so it's been like passed down through the generations. But if this plot of land sells, then they're gonna have to move the house,” Savannah said of a cute home in the same area, pictured above.

Not a Fan of the Jacobs Plan

Savannah, who comes from Fernley, and has lived some in Los Angeles, is not a fan of the Jacobs plan and its already built Glow Plaza with giant animal statues and a cemetery of motel replica signs.

“They're gonna buy out this whole entire area and expand the Glow park, which is that little strip on Fourth. I see absolutely no reason for that. First of all, Reno isn't Vegas. I don't see why we need to keep trying to be like Vegas. We're different. I think the people know that and honestly, we've had a lot more people moving here. So I just don't see why we have to keep like commodifying our town to make it more palatable to tourists when it's like, there are real people who live here who need homes. And if we just keep bulldozing them, where are we all gonna go?”

From what she’s heard of it and seen so far, she feels the Jacobs plan is a mismatch for what Reno is.

“I think a lot of people from Reno are more focused on like being outdoorsy or like having like a community. I really feel here in Reno, that's what we value most is our sense of community and our sense of togetherness. That's why I just don't feel like this whole Jacobs thing really plays into this. I feel like Vegas, you know, it's very flashy and like exciting. And it seems like it is the type of place that just wants to have people brought in, you know, for the sake of it. Um, and so I feel like, you know, even if you're just looking at like pictures of Vegas, like it has this very eye catching look, candy colored, you know, like basically like cocaine but I feel like Reno is like almost the exact opposite. It's like, everybody here wants to be mellow and live their lives and kind of go about things together, you know? I feel the Jacobs Entertainment thing just doesn't go with this. Like every time I drive past the Glow park, it seems like somebody literally just lifted something up, plopped it there and was like, have it, enjoy this. So it's like, so mismatched, it doesn't fit in with anything. And I just don't see why that has to be a part of this area specifically. It's vintage, it's old and we all like that. And you know, if you want that type of thing, go downtown, go on Virginia Street, where there actually are tourists, you know? “

Savannah’s apartment is across the street from the Castaway Inn which was recently boarded up by Jacobs Entertainment.

Feeling Sad for the Sudden Closure of the Castaway Inn Across the Street

Savannah lives across the street from the now boarded up and already bought out Castaway Inn. It also sits next to the now also boarded up 7/11 Motor Lodge.

She’s heard people including politicians call these places seedy and dangerous but she doesn’t share that sentiment.

“I think it's relatively safe. I mean, I've never had any issues. I don't tend to walk around at night just because, you know, I'm 21 that seems unsafe. But in general, it's you know, it's relatively quiet around here. I mean, I haven't had any issues,” she said. “The Castaway Inn seems like it was just kind of a place where people lived.  I mean, it was pretty packed and then just like randomly one day it was like closed up nobody's there and everybody got kicked out. So that's kind of what I'm worried about happening here. I don't want it to be like one day we have a house then the next day it's just, everybody's kicked out, and I'm gone.”

For the longer term, she still believes in the election process, always pushing her friends to register and to vote, having worked herself on national campaigns in the past. This issue is local though, she says, and local elections coming up in 2022 are crucial.

“It’s really going to be those elected city officials who are making the decisions that are going to impact us the most. You know Joe Biden isn't gonna get across his desk and say ‘Oh, look at that 441 West Second Street is getting sold, you know? But Mayor Hillary Schieve she is, you know, and that's something she might care about and actually might be able to do something about. So I hope that she does. And obviously I encourage anybody who cares even a little bit to vote.” 

In the meantime, she is going to continue to speak out now that she’s started and will encourage others to do the same.

“I definitely think more people should speak up,” Savannah said. “I really feel like if we don't speak up people aren't gonna really realize how important it is. I mean, specifically at the city council meeting, we went to, I mean, it was every pretty much every single comment was about the housing crisis and about gentrification. I just feel like everybody should speak up when they can.”

Our Town Reno reporting, December 2021

A Local Author Seeks Better Promotion Possibilities Against the Amazon Tide

“I moved [to Reno] in ‘95 and you know, the food wasn't as good then but the eclecticness of the people and the culture was great,” Thomas Lloyd Qualls, a local Reno author, said in our interview, “I'd love that it was a small town and it was close to a lot of cool stuff. In a few hours, I could be in wine country or San Francisco or in less than an hour, I could be in Tahoe. So I thought ‘This is perfect. I'll just stay a while.’ And here I am 25 years later.” 

After leaving law school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Qualls followed a few friends out to Reno and searched for freelance jobs to bulk up his portfolio. He landed a job writing up appeals and doing research for a few lawyers, “but the writing was still going on in the background the whole time.” Once his first book Waking Up at Rembrandt’s came out in 2009, it gained a lot of attention as the ‘Best Novel’ three years in a row in the Reno News and Review’s ‘Best Of’ section.

The attention was so massive that “Oliver X (with RenoTahoe2Nite), who was one of the first people to review Waking Up at Rembrandt's, invited me to submit a piece whenever I wanted. So I started doing that. And then he gave me a regular column and then the column went from 500 words to 1000 words and they moved me up to the front of the magazine and we just did that for I think like between six and seven years. I started in January of 2012. And then I stopped doing it so that I could focus on getting Painted Oxen out the door.”

While working on that novel, Qualls conducted interviews in Reno based on his own perceptions of the Tarot. He used these interviews as a “literary vehicle” and even rewrote his own descriptions of the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot. He then “took those descriptions which are part of the thread that runs through the novel. And I would assign a character to those so, we would pick four people to interview and assign each of them a card. And then I asked them questions that were all pulled out of those descriptions that I had written to see how much their personality or their life story matched that card and they were always spot on for some reason.” Interviews he recorded included some with local artists and the mayor.

Qualls remarked that in Reno, “there's a higher mindedness and a really cool artistic spirit here. I think it's great that we're the gateway for Burning Man because the town became an infusion of all of that creative energy and a lot of that art has ended up here. All of that has really contributed to life here.” He goes on to say that Reno is similar to a magnet that pulls people back. “I would watch people try to leave and then they just end up a year later back here. For whatever reason, Reno just called them back because they couldn't find that same thing, that same electricity and community in other places.”

Artists come in several different categories from painters to graphic designers to authors. The Reno community has art shows and galleries appearing all over the downtown area. “I think Reno is more art friendly,” Qualls said, “I am fortunate to have a pretty good network and community here but when COVID kept people from rolling out, there were over 80 people that showed up to Sundance for the launch of Painted Oxen.” The closeness of the community and the familiarity from the public made him feel at home since “the feedback that I got when I was writing the column for Reno/Tahoe Tonight magazine, I would just be in a restaurant. One of the servers or somebody that I didn't know would come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I really love your work, or I really loved your piece this month.’”

However, an artist is not an artist without their struggles. Qualls said that “most people think writing a book and getting a book contract is like ‘Oh, that's it. I'm golden now, right?’ And 20 years ago, you could make a decent living. If you were able to get a publisher and get a book out on the shelves, it was going to sell and you were going to make at least something. Maybe that's not the only source of income you can have, but you're gonna do okay as an author, and then the internet changed everything.”

With the convenience of Amazon and online ordering, being an author is harder than it seems. “There's way more books being published and it's way harder to rise above the noise and the vast amount of authors out there are actually on bookshelves in bookstores. Sundance has an online system where you can just order your books. So they don't even have to carry it in order to sell it, they just go out and buy it from where it's available,” Qualls said.

His most recent book, Happiness is an Imaginary Line in the Sand, didn’t start out as a book at all. Qualls states that he “didn't set out to write a book when I was doing it. It just turned out that I had something like 75 essays that I had written between the magazine and there's a few other online forums that I wrote for. It was a way to make them available to a broader audience. My audience was mostly local, so I thought this would be a way to get them out to a broader world.” 

Using a similar approach to Painted Oxen, Qualls planned on doing “a lot of small, intimate gatherings and two Oracle readings basically. I created an Oracle deck with one card for each of the essays and had someone pull a card and then I read the essay where we kind of talk about how that relates to their life. So it's an idea that could go in backyards and living rooms. Whoever wants to host could invite their own people.”

Unlike the title of his newest book, Qualls says that “ I don’t pose myself as someone who's enlightened or who is even happy all the time. But as someone who has slogged through the mud of life, you know, there's a lot. Up until six months ago, I was a criminal defense lawyer for a big chunk of my adult life. And so I'm used to seeing the ugliness and the muddiness of life.”

“But it's like everything,” Qualls remarks as he thought back on the difficulties he had gone through over the course of his career, “It's like podcasts. Podcasts are everywhere. How do you rise above the noise? How do you hear the signal above the noise? If you're a reader who wants to read good books or if you're a writer who wants to get your book out there? What do you do to make a difference?”

Reporting by Sol George and Henry Stone shared with Our Town Reno

Dr. Sherilyn Duckworth, Helping Teens Locally with a Friend of Mind

From Her Own Experiences

After surviving an impulsive suicide attempt as a teenager and ten years of untreated depression, Dr. Sherilyn Duckworth realized there were major cracks in the health system. Particularly, more effort and care was needed addressing the mental health of the youth. Over the course of her education, she began collecting pieces she hoped would fill the cracks. 

Now in Reno, she is working to help others and there’s lots of work to be done. Nevada ranks in the top third for teen suicide. In the past ten years, the average rate of suicide amongst teenagers in Nevada doubled.

Duckworth recently completed her doctorate program in Health Education and Promotion with an emphasis in behavior from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During her education she created a yoga meditation program.

“One of the things that I put together is I need to be there for adolescents who may not have the help that I needed at the time,” said Duckworth. After her suicide attempt, her mother did not allow her to take anti-depressants and could not afford the time off needed to take her to therapy. It was, and still is, a major hole in the system affecting both lower-income and people of color across the nation. 

Duckworth was awarded the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, which addresses the social determinants of health. With this opportunity, she created a program that helps adolescents struggling with mental health issues. 

“I thought it would be cool to use yoga to help youth with their depression and anxiety and stress,” explained Duckworth. During the fellowship she created a program that utilizes yoga meditation to help adolescents living in a public housing community in Birmingham, AL. After seeing the impact of her work and completing the year-long fellowship, Duckworth could not see herself just walking away from the program. 

Recent screengrabs from the project’s affiliated Instagram.

Reducing Stigma, Normalizing Conversations

A Friend of Mind was born. Her non-profit helps youth battle depression. It provides access to yoga and mediation to anyone experiencing anxiety or stress or depression and serves as an affordable and accessible tool. The organization was created in 2018 and has four chapters, one in Birmingham, AL, another one in Atlanta, GA, and one in Duckworth’s hometown, Demopolis, AL, and most recently, Duckworth began a chapter here in Reno. 

She relocated from the south to Reno earlier this year and Duckworth fell in love with the people. “Everyone has been so welcoming...I have just gotten so much support,” she explained about her short time in town. She has been able to use this support to help grow the local chapter of A Friend of Mind. 

“There is definitely a need to for adolescents to get access to mental health and suicide prevention resources here,” explained Duckworth. Since opening her organization she has received many calls from parents of teenagers. She has found that her work is not only needed but being well received. 

Currently she is also in the process of working with local school officials to create an afterschool program and getting connected with local detention centers.

“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” she said. “It is really important to remember that we can’t see our mental disorders.” She emphasized the importance of being nothing but supportive of those experiencing mental disorders, especially those who may not have the best quality of mental health. She understands the conversations that need to happen can be difficult, but nonetheless, they are important. So important, she said, that they need to happen with the youth from an early age. 

“We need to have a conversation about mental health like we do about football,” Duckworth explained. She understands, from a first-hand experience that adolescents need a safe haven and in order to get there, the conversations need to happen, and useful programs need to be put into place .

“I don’t think people realize how common mental disorders are among adolescents,” Duckworth said. These include everything from depression, anxiety, PTSD and attention behaviors. She said not being able to identify these common behaviors as part of mental health, is a disservice to the youth. “If we don’t recognize how common they are we are not able to recognize how quickly they need help.” 

While A Friend of Mind is in its infancy, the impact can be far reaching.

“Providing these outlets, normalizing these conversations and being aware how common suicide and mental disorders are among adolescents,” Duckworth explained are the strongest assets everyone has at their disposal to help alleviate the mental health struggles of the younger generation. “It’s going to take a village to decrease the suicide rates of adolescents.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Richard Bednarski

A Sister's Relentless Push to Clear Her Late Brother's Name and Help Others

A Battle Going on For Decades

Later this week, on December 9th, Tonja Brown, who signs her emails as an advocate for inmates and the innocent, will be back at it. She has cleared out that day to speak in Carson City on behalf of her brother Nolan Klein at a Pardons Board hearing. Klein died in 2009 at the age of 54 in the infirmary at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center. He never wavered from saying he was innocent.

Brown will take part in the public comment sections, “to ask them to set aside one hearing per year to allow those who've been wrongfully convicted and passed away [for] their families and their loved ones, the opportunity to continue to exonerate their names,” she explained to Our Town Reno in a recent phone interview.

Her prepared statement begins: “I am here to ask this Pardons Board to place on the Agenda of their first Pardons Board hearing set for in the year 2022, to have an open discussion with its members to allow the Pardons Board to hear Factual Innocence Posthumously cases once per year, until a law is implemented to allow the courts to hear them. “

The opening of the statement for this week above.

Clearing an Entire Family’s Reputation

This effort she said is not only to clear her brother’s name.

“That stigma still is attached to the person's name and not only the name, it's the family for many years,” she said. “I was called the sister of a rapist and you know, things like that. And it's very hurtful. And then the truth is, when you have law enforcement and district attorneys who would hold exculpatory evidence from cases and innocent people are wrongfully convicted, family members, the victims, those wrongfully convicted, they are all victims of the system. Even to this day, I still get called out by people, even from law enforcement who don't even know the facts of this case, and I'm done with it. And just like everyone else who's been in this situation, you hear all these people who've been wrongfully convicted, who are being exonerated. Their families never gave up on them and they would never want to give up on them even after death.”

The March 1989 conviction was for two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon, burglary and sexual assault with a deadly weapon. It was never overturned.  In his 2019 letter, Washoe County District Attorney Christopher Hicks wrote the Nevada Supreme Court rejected appeals in 1993, 1994, 1998, 2002. and 2009. Klein’s death came just a week after the Director of Corrections at the time ordered staff to begin preparing paperwork for a compassionate release due to his failing health, including pneumonia and liver failure from Hepatitis C.

From the Nolan Klein Says Facebook page, one of many documents highlighted, this one related to confusion on the amount of facial hair the perpetrator allegedly had, and differences in Klein’s lineup and arrest photos.

Fighting for Others as Well

Our Town Reno first met Brown at a yearly protest for families of those killed by local law enforcement. Regular participants also follow the Nolan Klein Says page.

“I think a lot of them feel that they're not getting the justice and you have to look at who's behind all of this too, because when you're dealing with officers, and then you have them policing their own, it's an issue,” she said of having empathy for fellow protesters and one of the main problems they see in how the system is set up. “It shouldn't be policing your own. And now they changed it to where it's a different department. Sparks is now looking into Reno or whatever the case. They don't want them policing their own. And I agree.”

Documents from those who oppose her actions have labelled the Reno Cop Watch Facebook page where details of the Klein case have been outlined as well as “cop haters.”

“We don't all start out hating cops,” Brown wanted to clarify. “I'm not a cop hater, but I certainly support these people at the protests because I have personally seen bad cops and not all are bad cops, but when the good cops keep quiet, it reflects back onto them as well.”

Even if her brother isn’t cleared before she dies, Brown says others will take over.  “I have people lined up,” she said near the end of our interview, which also went in detail on what she hopes the board will finally see as requiring the conviction’s review and overturn. Many of those details can be found on the Nolan Klein Says and Reno Cop Watch Facebook pages and some of this will be repeated on December 9th.

“What I'm trying to do is to help, not just my brother, but I'm putting Nolan’s case on trial before the Nevada Pardons board in an effort to get them to look at factual innocence, posthumously, hold hearings and exonerate them, give the families what they want, give them some peace and closure,” she concluded. “And again, if these people are innocent, the real perpetrator is out there committing more crimes.”

Our Town Reno Interview in late November 2021

Cowboy Tom Preparing a Record Thanksgiving With the Help of Donors

The name Cowboy Tom and his business Cookies for Kindness are becoming more and more well known in the Reno community. We first featured him in December 2020.

This year, the former cook in the Air Force, is preparing to serve over 1500 families with dinner kits during the Thanksgiving period, more than double his number last year, and he wants to keep growing, as currently there are many challenges due to the lingering pandemic.

“I am looking at 2022 being a banner year,” he said.

Each kit this year will have enough food to feed a family of six with leftovers. Included in each is all of the Thanksgiving essentials, including a turkey, pumpkin pie, coffee, spice packets, gravy, produce, butter, cranberries, stuffing, hand sanitizer, and cooking instructions. 

The refrigerator truck donated to Tom, has 22,099 lbs of turkeys and 1500 pumpkin pies. Photo taken by Maggie Durling

These kits are going to community members in need. Most will go to families who are struggling financially, including some National Guard families who weren’t able to work because of the pandemic. The rest of the kits will go to local non-profits who will distribute them to the communities they serve. 

The first 125 meals kits went out to non-profits on November 18. The rest of the kits will start to be distributed on November 22, with already 500 people signed up for the first day.

Private donors and non-profits are the reason Tom has been able to make this happen. Some donate money and others donate resources like folding tables or a massive refrigerator truck. He was able to collect $90,000 this year. 

Between his holiday meals and his own business Cookies for Kindness, Tom has a lot going on. He says he maintains his energy in a few different ways.

“Coffee and just helping all of those people,” he said while at work. “I can whine about my pain, or I can feel the joy of giving to my community. Joy wins every time.”

As a disabled veteran, Tom knows what it is like to struggle. He said several times that if it wasn’t for his cookie business and community supporters he too would be homeless. 

The brand new van that Tom was able to buy and insure with the help of private donors has changed the way he is able to run his business. Photo taken by Maggie Durling

The involvement from the community is what makes Tom’s work happen. This summer Tom was able to buy a new van for Cookies for Kindness, also financed by donors. 

The support has also made his services and cookies more widely known.

“Every detail is super important,” says Tom. “I want them to see my heart coming out of that.”

Tom also uses the help of the Bridge Church, right across the street from Reno High School, where the bags will be distributed. He also relies on the help of volunteers and is always in need of more helping hands. 

Reporting by Maggie Durling for Our Town Reno

Rachel Jackson Provides More Visibility for Reno's Queer Community

Rachel Jackson is a junior at UNR majoring in journalism and minoring in photography. After they graduate Jackson hopes to become a photojournalist. *Please note: Jackson uses they/she pronouns and will be referred to as “they” in this article.

Rachel Jackson, 20, is a University of Nevada, Reno junior who recently started Pride of 775, a student-run reporting initiative that focuses on queer experiences here in Reno. Jackson describes Pride of 775 as a photography and podcast based project that looks at both the good and bad experiences of identifying in the LGBTQ+ community.

Jackson currently identifies as a non-binary lesbian, meaning they don’t identify with either the male or female gender, and they are attracted to women. Jackson came out in high school as bisexual and has gone through many iterations of their identity before landing on what they use today.

Jackson said that they are wanting to make friends as restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic are being lifted, and meeting queer people through this project was just the way to do it.

“I feel like a lot of people have come into their identities over COVID, and now that we’re slowly inching our way out of it, it’s just fun to talk about,” Jackson said. “Like, ‘What’s your favorite part about being gay? What’s your least favorite part?’”

You can find Pride of 775 at its website (https://prideof775.wordpress.com/) or on Tik Tok (https://www.tiktok.com/@prideof775?lang=en), Twitter (https://twitter.com/Prideof775) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/prideof775/) @Prideof775.

Jackson’s first feature on Pride of 775 is about Cora who also identifies as a non-binary lesbian. A podcast episode features discussions about being lesbian in Reno, the differences about living here compared to living in Las Vegas, and current queer discourse on Tik Tok.

But Jackson is still on the search for people who want to participate in the project.

“I’m just trying to find people who want to sit down and talk about being gay because it’s one of the most fun things to do,” they said.

Jackson said they hope to provide a resource for queer people to listen to other people in the LGBTQ+ community and find comfort knowing that other people are going through the same experience. Though Jackson does say that people who don’t identify as a part of this community are more than welcome to tune in as well.

So far, Jackson said they have gotten a positive reaction about Pride of 775 online and doesn’t expect to get much hate in the future.

Reporting and Photo by Catherine Schofield for Our Town Reno

Adam, A Free Barber with a Prayer for Unhoused Brothers and Sisters

The first time I met Adam was on a sultry September Sunday afternoon. He was in a grey vest and shorts walking the streets of downtown Reno handing burritos and water to the houseless population who were interacting with various volunteer groups. Adam was then serving as part of the Reno Burrito Project.

Months earlier, an Our Town Reno photographer took pictures of him being handcuffed outside the temporary 4th street shelter. Adam has been upset for months now at conditions inside local government-run shelters, has been vocal about it, and says he’s been thrown out too. He says conditions inside are not sanitary enough.

Adam has been unhoused for over a year now himself and lives in his Ford Taurus as best he can. He says he was working at a furniture store near Plumb Lane before he decided to quit that job and look for other paid work. Adam once received burritos from the outreach group, before being one of those helping.

Blaize Akanaab, the founder of the RBP, remembers Adam from one of his earlier Sunday handouts and says it’s yet another indication of the unhoused community coming together to help each other. 

Over the Fall, Adam helped with the Reno Burrito Project. Photo by Kingkini Sengupta.

Adam now often pulls over opposite the Nevada Cares Campus on weekdays in the morning. He parks his car, unmounts a black and steel hydraulic chair, lays out his trimmers and scissors and waits for people to seek out his free service.

Within minutes a line forms of people waiting to get their hair trimmed by Adam for free. Adam is not a barber by profession but says he does this for the love for his unhoused brothers and sisters and for the glory of God.

“When you give them a haircut, they feel better, their confidence is built up, they are more eager to go out and get a job,” he said. After the haircuts Adam gives them a quick prayer and tells them, “Jesus Christ loves them, always has and always will.”

A happy recipient of a free haircut smiles with Adam into the morning sun outside the Nevada Cares Campus. Photo by Kingkini Sengupta.

‘Do you want all off or …,” Adam was discussing lengths of the cut with someone sitting in his chair when Aubrey and her husband Vincent were leaving the shelter to get a job for the day. Vincent immediately decided to queue in the line to get his hair and beard trimmed. 

“Look at this guy, he is getting a haircut, which is awesome,” Aubrey said as she stood teary-eyed watching Vincent get the trim.

“It definitely helps the way people look at you, if you are presentable or not,” Vincent said. “God is using Adam to do his work in the best way possible. It’s a great way to give back to the community.”

In the summer, Adam did not have a place to shower after his haircut sessions and often cleaned himself up in the Truckee River before trying to go find a job. He says life gets tougher when one does not have much money or a home. Adam has a small child, he says, who has been adopted from him against his will.

Adam has various ideas about helping those in his predicament. He  believes that the closed Santa Fe Basque restaurant could be reopened and converted as a cafe for the unhoused so that people could come and drop off the unused food resources provided to them.

He also believes a nearby downtown Reno barber shop could be used as a base for free haircuts for the unhoused. He often discusses these ideas with the people he provides haircuts to. On the day I met him outside the Cares Campus, he said a prayer for Aubrey and then packed up for a new job he had at a gas station.

Our Town Reno Reporting by Kingkini Sengupta

Henry Sotelo, from Journalism to Helping Others in Specialty Courts and Teaching at TMCC

When Henry Sotelo was 18, he came to Reno with a friend who wanted to check out the University. His friend never attended the school but when Sotelo set foot on the campus, he fell in love. “I just loved the place and I’ve been here ever since,” he explained. 

From graduating as a journalist from the Reynolds School of Journalism to performing different jobs in the legal industry, Sotelo has called Reno his home for almost 4o years.  His early education he says was useful for what has since come his way.

“With journalism it was so good, it was a great framework for me to learn how to interview people, talk to people, [and] interact with people,” Sotelo said. He said he always had an interest in law and journalism helped establish a solid foundation for him. Eventually he would realize journalism was too passive. 

Sotelo grew up in Oakland, California. The son of a blue collar worker, he remembers moving every few years to a new house. He recalled in our conversation when San Jose, the Silicon Valley of today, was nothing but groves of fruit trees. Despite being raised in the East Bay, Sotelo’s accent reminded me of a character out of New York City. He has heard this before and can not figure out why. But he rolls with it.

His career did start out in journalism.

“I enjoyed it, the connection, I enjoyed city coverage,” he said about his time at the Sparks Tribune, a now online-only news site. As months in journalism churned on though, he says, “I just wanted to find out more information about how I can be more involved directly with the law.” He had a foray into magazine printing and ran a small one out of San Francisco. 

“But I eventually came back and got into law,” he said. “I came and practiced in Reno because I enjoy the Reno area.” He started with criminal law at the district attorney's office, headed then by Mills Lane, a former boxer, also known as a referee (in the famous Mike Tyson / Evander Holyfield bite fight), television personality and well-known lawyer. Sotelo saw this as an interesting era in Reno where he learned a lot. His next move was working for ten years as a prosecuting attorney for the city. 

“Now I’m doing defense work with the same court, the Reno Municipal Court,” he said, explaining the twists and turns. Sotelo enjoys the accessibility he has with folks in this small scale court system. Many of the people he sees are first time offenders who Sotelo sees as people who need a break from whatever they had going and a nudge in the right direction.

A screengrab explains the Specialty Courts in Reno, which now include a Fresh Start DUI Program, Co-Occurring Disorders (COD) Court, a Young Adult Offender (YAR) Court, a Veterans' Treatment Court (CAMO-RNO), and the Community Court (CC).

When Sotelo was at the District Attorney’s office he recalled the mentality was all about getting criminals behind bars, no matter the crime. “There was no talk about any kind of trying to steer folks, to get them help, to prevent the recidivism,” he said. He recalls judges telling offenders to simply not come back. Kind of like slapping a hungry person on the hand for stealing a loaf of bread rather than feeding them a meal. 

“That was basically the way to try and talk people from coming back,” Sotelo explained, something he knows does not work. 

“Folks don’t really understand the structure which I think is a big problem,” said Sotelo. He believes people should have to take a law 101 course in order to learn how courts function in society today, beyond what is portrayed on Netflix. Maybe this is the teacher in him recruiting students. Another Sotelo occupation now involves teaching law at Truckee Meadows Community College. 

The Reno Municipal court where Sotelo spends a lot of his time deals with misdemeanors which are punishable from zero to six months in jail and up to $1,000 fine. These infractions must occur within the city limits of Reno. Sotelo explained the most serious crimes he works with are domestic batteries and DUIs, which are both misdemeanors for the first and second offense. 

There are four departments within the court now as the city has grown. Sotelo says that within the next decade there will have to be another one added, “so many folks are running through, especially now that we’re working with the specialty courts.” 

After many people were coming back into the court system with multiple offenses, former Judge Paul Hickman applied for a grant that would help establish a specialty court which would help address the underlying issues many of these people were contending with, including alcohol and drug abuse and mental health issues. This was modeled after a court in Albuquerque which came out of the methamphetamine crisis. 

“Over a long haul, 12 to 18 months, you’re continually seeing these clients,” explained Sotelo. A team of folks are now able to work with these people to help them sort through the underlying issues that led to the crime in the first place. “Then bringing in resources to deal with those problems.”

Sotelo has seen people return time and time again into the court system if these issues are not treated. He believes it is close to an 80% return rate without treatment. With treatment, he has seen the number drop in half saving the courts, and in turn, the local taxpayer money while helping community members get back on the right track through these specialty courts. Helping one person has a ripple effect through the family and friends of that person and to Sotelo, this ripple continues into the community, and to him, it is the most important by-product of the specialty courts.  He has seen clients re-establish relationships with family members that had fallen by the wayside. 

This program which also includes clinical treatment for substance abuse helps people who may have lost trust in the court system get back on track. Frequent and random drug tests are also part of the program and through this tough love approach it helps steer people away from the easy button of drugs.

“We’re bringing therapists into the courtroom,” Sotelo said. “Bringing in folks that understand the long term drug use and the harm it has...and how to treat that.” 

Each case is examined on an individual level and helps each person get to a place they can succeed from. Job seeking and help is facilitated in this program and community service is a way to help people build job skills. 

“Showing folks where these resources are because when you're doing your alcohol or drug haze, or whatever you’re into,” explained Sotelo, “you’re not thinking about anything outside that little bubble you’re in.”

The foundation of these specialty courts are mandatory and frequent appearances in court. This establishes accountability. Beyond this Sotelo explained there are small rewards that come with progress and solid behavior. Nothing large but simple things like a gift card to a local coffee shop. Along with support and encouragement, all of these steps help direct single and multiple offenders back towards a healthier life. A branch of this court is held at the county library downtown. This community court is specifically for the unhoused population, which according to some estimates has increased by nearly 900% in the past four years. These courts are also a warm, safe place to get off the streets for a day and have access to services. 

One of the most challenging things the unhoused face is losing important documents that are required to get a job or housing. Often, these are lost in a police sweep where their possessions are treated as trash. 

“Get them in there, give them something to eat, and also talk to them,” explained Sotelo of the new approach. This community court is staffed with social workers who can help address the individual needs of our neighbors in need. The goal is to get people a place to stay that is not on the streets. Sotelo recently talked with a person who was doing well.

“When I first saw him he was not in a good place,” explained Sotelo. Through the community court this person was able to get back on track. Sotelo asked him what led to the success. He said: “they found me a place to live.’”

“If you got a place to live you got a great foundation to get a little stability,” Sotelo said of the long term goal of some of the most difficult cases he works on. “It really hits home..and I believe that [housing] is the key issue for these folks.”

Our Town Reno Reporting and Photo by Richard Bednarski

Compassion and Empathy Drive Local Reverend to Help the Unhoused

“I just have a passion for making the world a better place and I think that we do that out of our deepening spirituality,” said Karen Foster, the reverend at south Reno’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada. She has been the reverend there for almost four years. She believes that as humans deepen their spirituality it causes us to become more caring towards other people. 

She has a knack for leadership and through her teachings, hopes to encourage all people to come together and help one another out, particularly when it comes to the unhoused crisis.

She said it is great that there are efforts being made to look at the issues surrounding homelessness, such as the establishment of the CARES Campus, located downtown on east Fourth Street. “But warehousing folks is not the answer,” Foster said.

“While we hope to see more progress on this issue, it’s hard to say whether that’s really a step in the right direction or not,” explained Foster as her shoes squeaked on the polished floor of her church, echoing in the large room. As winter approaches many are concerned the CARES Campus and safe camp are not adequately prepared for the bitter cold and stormy season. 

“I mean we have to get folks off the streets, it’s a life threatening issue to have folks on the streets,” said Foster. She believes having overflow and emergency shelters as was the case previously were better during the colder months. When the pandemic first locked down society, the City of Reno opened up the Reno Events Center for the unhoused community as an emergency shelter to help maintain social distance and increase capacity, but that program was then disbanded. 

Reverend Karen Foster advocates for more programs such as HopeSprings run by Northern Nevada Hopes.

“Really what we need to be doing more of is something like the model of Northern Nevada Hopes has developed with the tiny house neighborhood,” said Foster. These transitional homes (previous Our Town Reno article here: http://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2020/10/15/hopesprings-a-new-bridge-housing-project-still-faces-financial-hurdles-to-open) allow people to take the initial step from living on the streets to secure housing and build a renting history. In turn, this history will enable people to get stable housing down the road. “Folks are allowed their own private spaces, they also have a way to be community and they have just an incredible amount of resources,” explained Foster, who recently toured the facility, which is a stones throw away from the CARES Campus.  

People who want to stay there have to make a commitment to improving their situation. Social workers and medical care is provided through the program to help with addressing the issues that affect the unhoused, such as mental health, addiction, and poor nutrition. 

“If we can expand on that model in a dramatic kind of way, that is a much, much better solution than warehousing,” said Foster.  

Affordable housing is another part of the equation that Foster believes needs to be addressed. As more and more developers build tracts of luxury housing, and lower end housing is destroyed, the lower income communities of Reno become one step closer to becoming homeless. 

“Reno has for too long allowed developers to have complete free reign,” Foster said. She has seen developers come in from out of town, develop a tract of luxury housing and “the money flows outward from the community in many, many cases.”

Foster believes this city council and county commissioners need to be much more forward thinking and look to successful examples around the country. “When a development proposal is made, it has to include either funding for low income housing or low income housing as a part of the project,” explained Foster. She firmly believes this has to happen with every new development and that if a stipulation like this was in place ten or fifteen years ago, there would not be an extreme shortage of affordable housing. 

Foster’s work goes beyond her fellowship. She is also part of the group The Reno Posse. This group serves well over a hundred meals every week. The food they prepare is high quality, nutrient dense meals that often become more than one meal per person. “The city used to provide locations for us to do meal service,” said Foster. “That’s been taken away.” This wrench in the plan has not stopped the Posse from getting food to our neighbors in need. “They know how to be visible and how to help us find them”

“It’s very important to us, with our spiritual values, that we’re part of creating sustenance for people who are on the streets,” said Foster. Whether these people are on the streets because of choice, situations with poverty, Foster does not judge and remains compassionate and empathetic towards the unhoused. She stays involved with the community and has a regular habit of attending city council and school board meetings. 

“Our folks in general are very visible in the community, trying to make a difference, trying to lift our voices, trying to live our values to make our community a better place for everybody, not just the one percent who are privileged and virtually untouched by many of the issues that are impacting our community,” explained Foster. Her focus is to remain engaged and push for corrections in the system that keep people poor and in the streets. 

Foster knows this work is exhausting and challenging. She remains vigilant and uses burnout as a guide post to keep her efforts focused. She tries to get out hiking to reset herself and get enough rest. She views these little steps as part of a daily process that helps maintain her mental health. “To be able to do it in the long haul, part of our call is to take care of ourselves,” she explained. 

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada is a unique church in that it does not cater to a single denomination. Foster said there are Atheists, Buddhists, and Jews who all attend, seeking to enhance their individual spirituality. This individualized focus allows everyone “to live together in community and learn from each other,” Foster explained. This deepens and expands the individual's spiritual journey, something Foster believes is paramount to building a stronger and less divisive community. 

“I think the real care for spiritual people is to be engaged,” said Foster. “To be engaged with the community and make a difference in every way we can. We’re at a crisis point...we need everybody stepping up and trying to make a difference.” 

Our Town Reporting by Richard Bednarski

Susan Chandler, Taking Part in a Third Act for the Next Generations

Susan Chandler, 78, a former UNR professor at the School of Social Work, who took part in protests against the war in Vietnam and the civil rights movement, is back at it again, speaking out against corporations such as JPMorgan Chase funding coal, oil and gas firms. With hundreds of billions of dollars invested, the bank has been the world’s top funder of the fossil fuel industry for each of the past five years, and its Reno branch was the site of a recent intergenerational climate change protest. 

“Chase bank and banks like Chase, they just keep feeding resources into fossil fuel industries. We want to draw a clear line about the banks. And so stop it, stop it. We don't want to support a bank that is killing the world,” Chandler said.

“If we come together, we can help,” Chandler told Our Town Reno after making a speech to those gathered outside the downtown Reno Chase location. “I mean the youth have been doing so much and Indigenous people have been doing so much. We can stand behind them. And we also can make, as [former civil rights activist and U.S Representative] John Lewis would say good trouble of our own too.”

Chandler recently wrote an op-ed with her grandson Liam Chandler-Isacksen, 15, called “A grandson and grandmother talk climate action.” She is also part of a new organization called Third Act, for people over the age of 60, launched by environmentalist Bill McKibben.

“I mean, our earth is in serious, serious danger for me personally,” Chandler said of her involvement and the importance of fighting for the next generations as well. “I have five grandchildren. During the fire season this year, it was like looking out on the apocalypse. I couldn't stand what was going to be there for my grandchildren. I mean, you know, will they have children? I mean, will the earth be here in a livable way?”

What about our elected officials, we asked?  “They do things, but they're not anywhere near enough,” Chandler responded.  “We need a Marshall plan, a bigger than a Marshall plan. Now you might not remember the Marshall plan. The Marshall plan is what went into effect after World War Two, to help Germany [and Europe] get back on its feet and see huge input resources. And the idea that if you really pour resources into this, into a situation that you can change things and we could change things.” 

She believes more people could and should join the movement to save our planet.

“I believe that people really love their children and love this land. We live on this incredibly rich and beautiful piece of land here and want it to be there for the future generations. I just know that people believe that,” she said concluding our interview.

Reporting by Gracie Gordon for Our Town Reno

Staffing Shortages, Lack of Safety, Blankets and Flooded Safe Camp at Cares Campus Dominate Homelessness Advisory Board

Lack of staff at the Cares Campus, repeated calls to 911 from the compound and flooded tents during the recent “atmospheric river” at the safe camp were some of the issues the Community Homelessness Advisory Board heard about this morning under new Washoe County leadership, after several months of the meeting being skipped over.

“I think it would be generous to say there’s half of the staff that’s currently needed,” John DeCarmine said of the Cares Campus. The executive director of the Grace compound in Florida has repeatedly been brought on as an outside consultant, praised by both advocates and local leaders. DeCarmine said they were so short staffed at the compound they were simply “putting out fires.” He called for better pay, training and leadership sessions.

Neoma Jardon, a Reno councilwoman, and formerly the chair of the board, called his latest analysis “candid information.” She asked about recently allocated $400,000 to attract or retain staff, but at that point of the meeting no one from operator Volunteers of America was present, to which Jardon said “that’s a problem.”

Regional Director Pat Cashell showed up later to also address a lack of blankets at the compound, saying these were being sent from Sacramento and also blamed “theft” and people inside the compound being given multiple blankets. “The shelter is so big that I’m not accustomed to,” he said of logistical challenges, also calling for community donations. Washoe County Commissioner Bob Lucey used the excuse of the compound still “being brand new” and warned of not getting “bogged down” in current problems. Devon Reese bemoaned that “governments are very slow.”

But DeCarmine warned: “At some point the way some of the services are provided now can become the way services are provided from here on out.” The compound has been open over six months with millions and millions of dollars already spent. Advocates have warned of potential problems since its opening, ranging from unhealthy food being served, to a lack of safety more recently.

Dana Searcy, the Special Projects Manager for the Washoe County Manager's Office, said the county is “working to address staffing.” Our Town Reno has been promised a renewed tour of the compound, but it hasn’t happened yet. We also asked to document the day in the life of staff but have not been given an opportunity to do so.

Searcy said the lack of staffing prevents employees from “collecting data and de-escalation,” regretting there have been increased calls to 911 and REMSA from within the compound.

When the head of Karma Box, the safe camp operator, Grant Denton took the podium, he said he had slept in one of the tents during the recent bad weather and that coolers and bikes blocking the flow of water into the safe camp space caused flooding and blankets inside tents to get wet. He said people sleeping at the tents were given new blankets, beanies and socks as well as new tarps. He also said the tents had bad zippers.

Searcy said 50 new $13,725 8ftx8ftx8ft Modpod heated and cooled structures will be arriving by late November, as well as two of these to be experimented with at the main part of the campus. She said Burner tents and even ice fishing tents had been considered.

The meeting concluded with Reese, Jardon and Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson calling for better coordination between volunteer groups and compound operators. That type of system, including having healthy community meals right by the former emergency shelter, which prevailed for years at Record street, were abandoned several years ago due to security issues.

Advocates are also seeking for the old Record Street location to be used to shelter women, with Our Place, run by RISE, often at capacity, and many women not feeling safe at the Cares Campus. Lily Baran called the lack of bad weather preparation a “public health crisis.” Jake Maynard said advocates “are not taken seriously,” and have warned of all the problems now happening. Ilya Arbatman said advocates sometimes felt like they were “screaming into the air.” Several advocates also called for a better process for people at the Cares Campus to address their grievances and for a lived experience committee to sit with CHAB.

Monica DuPea, the founder and director of the Nevada Youth Empowerment Project, pointed to current trends at the at-risk youth non profit the Eddy House and asked whether “it was really operating as an emergency youth shelter? What is the intake criteria? What is the ban and suspension policy? Who is served and who is not served?” Other advocates have also expressed concerns the Eddy House has turned into a “workforce program” rather than an emergency shelter for at-risk youth. Our Town Reno emailed the Eddy House for comment but did not hear back.

Our Town Reno Reporting, November 1, 2021

Amber Torres, Grateful for UNR's New Effort To Return Remains and Cultural Items to Tribal Nations

In late October, the University of Nevada, Reno’s President Brian Sandoval sent out an email with a questionnaire asking deans, chairs and unit heads to “locate any previously unreported Native American Human Remains or Cultural Items” covered by the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, “to initiate the repatriation process.”

In a subsequent interview with Our Town Reno, Amber Torres, the Walker River Paiute Tribe Chairman, reacted positively to this latest breakthrough.

“It is of the utmost importance that we get the ancestral remains returned back to the rightful tribe in which the tribal citizen belonged,” Torres said, adding it is crucial that the remains get returned back to where they came from out of respect and with all the belongings they were exhumed with.

“When they’re unearthed like that,” said Torres “they can’t rest until they’re put back to where they belong.”

She is grateful that the feedback from all the Tribal Nations is not just being listened to right now, but honored and respected. Torres explained over the phone that the process has finally been moving, after years of silence. She also explained many local tribal stakeholders have been involved in the current process to help develop a plan of action that not only upholds respect, but is done in a timely manner. 

The momentum shifted this past summer when UNR President Sandoval met for several hours with tribal leaders, historic preservation officers and representatives from the anthropology department.

“The most disheartening thing is whenever it has something to do with our people or our Nations, it is not being at the table,” said Torres who was present at the summer meeting. “Having respected Tribal Nations at the table has been tremendous.”

The company in charge of the transfer, California-based Cogstone Resource Management, has worked with local tribes in the past and this is something that Torres feels is important as well. When contacted for this report, the company did not immediately provide a comment on their process. 

But in an email to Our Town Reno, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Debra Moddelmog, who has been tasked to coordinate the effort, explained the process goes beyond the survey and repatriation.

 “In addition, the University has recently posted two job announcements for positions that will advance our efforts in regard to consultation and repatriation as well as assist us in developing collaborative partnerships with local Tribes and Tribal organizations. We are searching for a Director of  Community Indigenous Relations and a NAGPRA Liaison and Project Manager,” she wrote. Torres believes this is also a step in the right direction.

Moving further forward, Torres wants the community to learn as much as they can about how her ancestors were possibly dug up on a project for the gain of scientific knowledge. “Those individuals that are placed in the earth at that time are there for a purpose,” she explained. “They were buried in that spot because of a meaning with the family.” She likened it to thinking about having your grandmother or distant relatives dug up and removed from their final resting place and urges everyone to think about the impact this has on everyone involved. 

“You want to make sure you have the same respect and the same ceremony that you would for anybody who expires in today’s age,” Torres said. “It’s a ritual..it’s a showing of respect.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Richard Bednarski

Dale Slingland, Finding a Passion for Art After Growing Up With Cerebral Palsy

Dale Slingland is native born Reno artist who has faced challenges throughout his life. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy before he was even one year old. Growing up, he realized he wanted to find a way to be independent in a judgement free setting where he could focus on his own things.

“I enjoy having the ability to communicate and connect to people and the greater world  through a visual language that will last far into the future,” Dale said of how he got into oil paintings during a recent interview with Our Town Reno.

Dale’s dream project is to work on a mural in the city of Seattle, Washington, where his brother lives. He’s also being featured in an upcoming art show called the Devil Made Me Do It which is happening at Pitch Black Printing Co. on October 29 at 6 p.m. Soon Dale will also be on the board of the Sierra Arts Foundation.

He’s also passed on his creative genes to his eleven year old son Wyatt. Wyatt sketched out a design for a mural creation contest at a local Coral Academy school and won. So Wyatt’s idea will come to life within the school's walls. 

“The theme for his mural is kindness. He chose a heart and the words equality that arches across it. Along with colorful shapes and delicious treats to share is the way he chose to depict the theme,” Dale said. 

Dale says he is inspired in his own work by nature and places like Lake Tahoe and Lake Pyramid. With his artwork Dale likes to challenge himself. He once received a critique on a piece he created involving a painting of hands. After the critique he decided to create a whole series based on hands to not only challenge himself but to also improve his skills. He wants his art to be unique and wants to be both mentally and physically involved in the process. 

Dale thinks the Reno art community has a solid foundation but believes there is always room for improvement. Dale appreciates Reno’s new emerging art scene, believing that the major event Burning Man, that happens every summer in Black Rock Desert, contributes to the local art scene. He believes the event brings its influences to the city and gives artists more creative opportunities. Dale himself has been to Burning Man three times in the past and got inspired to create fun costumes for the event. His father was also a costume photographer at Burning Man as well. 

“I love being a part of Reno's art community. It has given me many opportunities to show my art and a chance to have my artistic voice heard and valued. I hope the community will continue to grow more vibrant and even more diverse in every way,” Dale said.

Dale’s advice to upcoming artists is to keep going, to be reliable and to develop a large body of work.

“Having a lot of work is advantageous in three ways, the first is that it gives you a good knowledge base on your chosen medium. The second is that creating lots of work helps you find your artistic voice and gives you freedom to find the genre of art you like. The third is that you will be ready for a variety of opportunities and art shows. Reliability is equal to or even more important than the quality of your work. Having your art framed and ready to hang by a deadline of the event will open up more opportunities, just because you showed up on time,” Dale said as we concluded our interview.

Reporting by Carley Olson for Our Town Reno

Jane Dunn, Reaching Out Nutritiously to Our Neighbors with the Reno Posse

Jane Dunn, 65, has been feeding her unhoused neighbors since she moved to Reno over 30 years ago. She started by taking leftover food to people sitting across the street from her house, but now she and the Reno Posse serve 100 meals every week to those in need.

The Reno Posse, started by Dunn over five years ago, started in her home kitchen, but has moved several times until finding its most recent home in the kitchen of the Reno Buddhist Center. Dinners that include an entree, sides, a home cooked dessert, snacks, juice and water are cooked, packed and sent out to be served downtown.

“Very often you miss the mark and you ask someone if they are hungry or if they want something to eat and they’re totally taken aback by that because they’ve never been in that situation,” Dunn said. “But they’re never offended. That’s the nice thing about this work. You don’t have to ask people if they’re homeless, you just have to ask them if they’re hungry.”

The Reno Posse is funded through donations and runs on volunteers, many who are senior citizens. Dunn says that with the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased sweeps of homeless camps it’s become harder and more expensive to serve meals. But Jane knows that the work is still important. 

“Sometimes problems seem so big, you just don’t know where to start,” she said. “But I know that the simplest thing that people need to do everyday is eat.”

Reno Posse volunteers Rachel and Emily drove to all their regular spots including the Riverwalk, Wingfield Park and the Believe Plaza to hand out meals when I was with them. Photo and reporting by Catherine Schofield.

I was able to go out on a chilly Wednesday evening with two volunteers, Emily and Rebecca, to see what it was like serving with the Reno Posse. 

We drove around downtown Reno looking for people who may want a hot meal. Emily would roll down her window at stoplights and in parks to ask anyone who walked by if they were hungry. Both Rebecca and Emily would give meals to anyone who wanted one and never asked about someone’s specific situation.

But both Emily and Dunn remarked how this work was never enough.

“We have a tremendous opportunity here to help humans, but it seems like we’re doing everything we can do to make people feel unwelcome,” Dunn said. “I think all people are worthy of equal respect and that’s not how people are treated if they’re homeless in this town.”

Dunn likes to think of this work as an exercise of gratitude for all that she has and for all that she can give to others.

Reporting by Catherine Schofield for Our Town Reno

Bill Sims, A Relentless Local Advocate for the Unhoused with Personal Connections

It was a cold, windy, and cloudy fall day. Puddles of water dappled the Believe Plaza in the normal random manner. Yellow and red leaves stuck to the aged concrete. A lone skateboard practiced his ollies and manuals through the puddles. Near the disintegrating Space Whale, a small group of unhoused community members took a rest and shared conversations. Winter was in the air as Bill Sims, a local advocate for the unhoused, met with Our Town Reno Reporter, Richard Bednarski. 

“Having had a homeless father for several years as a kid living in California, I know what it’s like to be homeless,” explained Sims. His father was homeless on and off nearly a dozen years when he was younger and because of this real-life experience Sims believes it is important to give back to the community. 

Before Sims relocated to Reno, he lived in both Fallon and Salt Lake City, Utah. He has lived in Reno for about nine years and has been a Nevada resident for nearly 19. He came to Reno to be closer to his mom and sisters. 

“No matter what people think, people who don’t have a permanent roof over their head deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and given the basic necessities that they need,” said Sims. Sims is a recipient of low-income housing and a firm believer in the efficacy of rent control as a method to curtail exploitive rent increases and profiteering by landlords.

While not employed, Sims makes himself as readily available as possible to help out in the community. He has been a regular over the past year at many of the police sweeps to bear witness and help, the anti-sweeps protests, public comment sessions, and most regularly helping feed the unhoused weekly, if not more, at the CARES campus.  

“Being able to essentially be the helper to the people that are helping and serving,” Sims explained as his preferred way to help. He enjoys being in the background making sure any outreach he is involved with happens smoothly and effectively. Without a car, he is always ready to go and help serve in order to allow the facilitators the time and energy to plan and organize an outreach event. 

He has long helped Jessica Castro serve meals and provisions to the unhoused community, as part of the Puff Puff Pass the Love local initiative, as well as bigger non profits.

“I do help out a lot with Planned Parenthood,” said Sims. “I’ve been a volunteer with them off and on since 2017.” Even though helping the unhoused community is his main focus, Sims said he is willing and able to donate his time and efforts to other organizations and community groups that align with his personal values. 

“Homelessness doesn’t make a person a good person or a bad person,” Sims said as he explained how he came to terms with his own father’s recurrent homelessness. Having grown up with a homeless father, Sims believes it is important to treat people with respect and dignity. It is something, he feels, should be first and foremost. “The reason why that is so important is because we don’t have a set in stone way of seeing things,” he said, knowing everyone has a different perspective. 

As winter is steadily approaching, and the CARES Campus and Our Place are regularly filled to near or at capacity, Sims knows it is important the community steps up and donates warm weather clothing. He usually helps serve breakfast on Saturday mornings around 8:30 am at the CARES Campus and said anyone is able to come down and drop anything off they wish to donate. 

“I think one big thing that the city could do right now is agendize looking into opening the Record Street Homeless Shelter again for couples and women,” said Sims. This comes on the heels of allegations of unsafe living conditions for women in the CARES Campus and ongoing sweeps. In addition, Sims believes the ongoing sweeps are ineffective and inhumane.

“There is of course a major housing crisis going on and that anyone that does not have a permanent roof over their head should not be looked down upon,” believes Sims. “For the greater Reno community, reach out to CARES Campus, reach out to Our Place, reach out to Jessica Castro, reach out to your friends whom you know work with homeless people and see what you can do to help them out,” he said as a concluding thought.

Reporting by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

Kenneth Stover, a Lawyer Defending the 1st Amendment, the Unhoused and Advocates

For Kenneth Stover, his work is about maintaining the integrity of the Constitution. Recently, the City of Reno abruptly dropped charges against a group of individuals who had protested on a patch of grass at Believe plaza for one week during the summer 24/7 against ongoing sweeps.

“My motivation to go to law school was based on the Yucca Mountain project,” Kenneth Stover said from his second floor office overlooking Arlington Ave. He did not want high level waste to be stored in that region spurring his career into action. The site about 100 miles from Las Vegas had been proposed as a geological repository storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive waste in the United States, but challenges reversed those goals.

In the beginning of his career, Stover, who got a B.S. at UNR at the start of his college journey in the early 1990s, focused on environmental remediation but then became a defense lawyer. More recently, he has represented protesters, including those arrested or cited during and after last year’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations. 

The anti-sweeps community members, Stover said, were only exercising their 1st amendment rights, concerning freedom of expression, assembly, and the right to petition.

“Fortunately, these four individuals are very strong with their voice,” Stover said. In the last two years, Stover has represented 14 protesters. “I’ve won every one with dismissals,” he said. “So these four were special to me because I thought we were actually going to have to go to trial and at the last minute the city folded.”

Stover was curious as to who ordered the “sweep” of the protesters themselves “and if any of them would have testified that they themselves were responsible, they certainly would have been on the hook,” he explained. 

But the city prevented that by dropping the case and making the defendants promise they would not sue the city. 

Stover does not believe the sweeps are ethical in the way they are done. He expressed disgust at how local police sometimes throw away the belongings of the unhoused community. 

Martin vs Boise was a pivotal 2018 case that went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The ruling that came out of this appeal made it illegal for cities across the country to enforce anti-camping ordinances when area homeless shelters are full. But, whatever the legal justification, Stover believes the way the unhoused community has been swept “has been somewhat inhumane.”

“Even the CARES Campus people themselves, [they] want the sweeps to stop until they are adequately staffed to take more people in,” Stover said. “We can’t treat people inhumanely nor could we sweep them under the rug.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Richard Bednarski

Bryce, Left Cold at the Safe Camp with Others, Amid Petition, Pending Changes

Too Cold in the Karma Box Tents

While complaints are growing about conditions on cold nights at the Washoe County run, Karma Box Project operated safe camp, where personal heat sources are not allowed, county officials say they will be moving away from tents to small individual shelters at that location by the end of November. But a new petition warns people could die before then, if it gets too cold under current conditions.

Bryce, who we met recently at the site of the old Wells Ave. tent city, says not being allowed to have your own source of heat at the pilot safe camp, as is currently the case, makes it colder than being on your own at night. Many unhoused living in tents will have their own propane tent heaters when sleeping along the Truckee River or hidden in parks. “They’re just overwhelmed,” Bryce said of operations at the camp, even though he’s grateful for the program.

He says he also understands why people still avoid the compound.

On its website, the County says it will be transitioning away from tents at the safe camp. “Currently, Safe Camp participants are provided with a tent, sleeping bag and a cot to sleep on in a specific location within the Safe Camp. As the team has been assessing this pilot program, the decision to order individual shelters has been made. These shelters will replace the tents moving forward. These are individual units that will be heated/ cooled as needed and also provide an electrical outlet for charging small personal electronics. As the camp is still in the development phase, these shelters will be set up in the current temporary site, above the bowl (Governor’s Bowl), while construction efforts continue in the permanent site,” a statement says.

An occupant at the safe camp confirmed to us they’ve heard these plans are being talked about by staff. He said he’s heard the new small structures might be made of plastic and carbon fiber compound, strong, but lightweight, movable and with their own electricity and heat.

One occupant has suggested the County buy sleeping bags like the one above for the Safe Camp and run them off a power bank.

A Petition Makes the Rounds and Other Complaints

A Change.Org recent petition is making the rounds which demands, “that Washoe County hold themselves true to their word and provide the residents of the Safe Camp, an extension of the CARES Campus, with adequate, sustainable shelter.”

It goes on to say: “When temperatures of 50 degrees or lower  persist, residents of this camp will likely suffer from frostbite, hypothermia and could possibly die when not fortified with a source of heat or way to stay adequately warm through both the day and night. Efforts to shield residents from these conditions by providing tarps, heaters and other structures have been largely denied by officials.  Residents are not allowed to heat their own tents with propane units or fire and there is no access to electricity on site. The Safe Camp does not provide any additional heating sources. These conditions cannot be allowed to continue. “

In its own winter plan statement, Washoe County says that on cold nights tent occupants would be moved to the Cares Campus: “In the interim, prior to individual shelters being installed and, in the event, it is anticipated to be below 50º F, with wind chill factored in, or if any precipitation is anticipated, the Washoe County Homeless Services Program Specialist will arrange transportation to the Cares Campus sprung structure for participants, where overflow of cots are accessible for emergency use. This will be provided beginning 12 hours prior to the anticipated cold weather. If a large number of participants decide to access shelter, Karma Box Project staff (KBP), the current operator of the Safe Camp, may be requested to go to the Cares Campus site to assist with staffing. The Homeless Services Program Specialist and the KBP Executive Director will provide staff with direction on when this will be needed.” The occupant says he hasn’t seen this happen yet, but that he has a zero degree sleeping bag so he says he feels ok, but that it is cold at night.

A follow up email from Bethany Drysdale, a communications manager with Washoe County indicated: “The winter plan is currently in effect. The projected date for delivery of the individual shelters is late November.”

The site of the old tent city near Wells Ave which has been swept several times since the Cares Campus opened.

Sweeps are Ongoing

Even though hundreds of people are being currently emergency sheltered at the Cares Campus, with several dozen at the safe camp, Bryce says there are hundreds and hundreds more of our neighbors still living in tents, still being swept. He says he tries to keep tabs on people both inside and outside the compound.

“Don't put down on the homeless because they have so much garbage and everything, helping them with dumpsters, help them with bathrooms,” Bryce told us during our recent interview as far as his own suggestions. “You want them to go away, give him something to use so that they have a momentum to gain some kind of force to get back into the employment world. That's really hard to do when they're being told to move every day.”

Bryce has had four children, some who’ve left the state and one who has been adopted. He has deep roots in the area but he says he got sick, stopped working and lost his apartment, putting his own life in a tailspin.

“Then it just been one day after another, because I can't get enough momentum going to get my feet back up underneath me,” he said. When we interviewed him, he had just gone for a long bike ride to get food stamps.

He said surviving in Reno has been difficult for him and others. “It's hard to watch. I mean, I remember watching this place 10, 15 years ago,” he said. “It wasn't this bad, but it's just progressively getting worse because of the pandemic and the unemployment and people getting sick. . . . . Everyone doesn't seem to realize they're one step away from this. Yeah. I had money . . .”

 After the repeated sweeps, Bryce lost a number of his belongings and a sense of where he belongs. “Watching everything you own get bulldozed because they don't really give a shit and they think they're higher and mightier than everybody out here. And they're just one step away from being here. That's the whole thing, right? I mean, I didn't expect to be out here. None of us did, but once you get out here, it's hard to get back up into housing.”  

Reporting and Photos by Gracie Gordon for Our Town Reno

Wild West Access Fund Establishing a New Frontier for Abortions

The Wild West Access Fund of Nevada, founded in June of 2021 by Carla Ramazan and Maureen Scott, is the only established abortion fund in the state. Primarily located in Reno and Las Vegas, the mutual aid turned 501(c)(3) group provides funding and resources to people seeking an abortion. So far, they’ve helped over 70 callers with access and aftercare. The group is entirely volunteer-run, and nobody is paid for their involvement.

Founders Scott and Ramazan were both present at the recent Reno rally, along with other volunteers. Ramazan gave a five minute speech sharing some of their anonymous callers’ backgrounds and stories. One caller was facing eviction, but needed an abortion. Another was too young to have their own bank account.

“When we first started, we got some feedback on the name,” Scott said. “They were like, ‘Why are you making Wild West Fund for abortion, like it shouldn’t be wild, you guys should make it very clear it’s about abortion and it’s about care,’ and all this stuff. And I think, like the more that we’ve grown, it really like encapsulates abortion funding as a whole in Nevada, because we are like brand new. There's no framework for how to fund abortion in Nevada, because there hasn’t been a long, large, well established fund here. So we're learning as we go, which is like the wild west.”

The group focuses on using gender neutral language regarding abortion. One of the contributors to their success so far has been their social media and internet presence. Their Instagram, @wildwestfundnevada, is how many of their current volunteers first learned about the group.

“Education is key,” one Las Vegas-based volunteer, McKenna, said. “We’re able to reach a lot of people, who might not necessarily seek out the information, through social media by sharing posts, by retweeting, stuff like that. And I think that we can offer them a different perspective.”

Reno and Las Vegas differ on expenses when it comes to abortions. The first option is the abortion pill, which can be taken up to 10 weeks after the first day of a person's last period, according to Planned Parenthood. This typically runs for $500-600 in Reno, and $450 in Las Vegas.

The cost of surgical abortions usually starts at $800, and increases per week. Between travel expenses, complications, and complex care needs, an abortion could cost up to $10,000. In Nevada, there is rarely insurance or Medicaid coverage for abortion. Abortion isn’t federally funded either. 

“One of the safest medical procedures that you can get… It’s like safer than getting your tonsils removed. Abortion is safe,” another person at the rally, Jakki said.

In Reno, only two locations offer abortion pills: Planned Parenthood and West End Women’s Medical Group. Of the two, West End is the only office to offer surgical abortions. 

Jakki brought up that not all people who get abortions are women, and nearly one in four people who are able to get pregnant will have an abortion. “Not only cis women get abortions, right. Trans men, nonbinary people, queer families, everybody… Somebody you love has had an abortion” Photo by Catherine Schofield.

Funding isn’t the only support WWAF provides. If a caller is only short a few hundred dollars, they can direct them towards a larger, national fund to cover the cost. They also provide aftercare kits, help finding transportation, and Plan B pills.

Aside from funding, the group emphasizes destigmatizing abortion, especially for Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. 

“For our organziation, we say we’re ‘pro-abortion’.” Scott said. “And to some people that may be shocking if ... they haven’t heard that term before, but the reason we say were pro-abortion is because we want people to know that abortion is safe, legal, it’s normal, it happens to so many people, and it’s not anything to have shame about and it’s not something that we want to distance ourselves from by saying, ‘Oh we support your choice, whatever that is’. Like, we support people seeking abortion, we support them having multiple abortions, abortion for any reason that they need it. It’s not something that we want to put qualifiers on, and so I think we’re already kind of moving away from the ‘pro-choice’ idea.”

Jakki, the Reno-based volunteer, pointed out that moving away from “pro-choice” rhetoric could better engage communities of color. “It’s not a message that connects with communities of color specifically. We’re much more community centric than I think, than when you think of white America, being very individualistic, what is your individual achievement, verses for many communities of color, who do live in multi generational households, who, um do like, rely on community care and have done that pre COVID, when we’ve really seen an uptake in mutual aid, which is really great.” 

Jakki continued about the importance of raising a child in a healthy environment.

“What that means is beyond just access to abortion. It also means like whether or not you have a child… is that child raised in a place where they’re not going to be separated from their families? We’re thinking immigration, right. Where they’re not going to be murdered, right… For Indigenous women who are missing and murdered, to young Black folks who are terrorized by state violence, so it’s a message that has never resonated with us.”

“Reproductive justice, when it comes to it, is also economic justice and racial justice at the same time,” Ramazan added. There’s a very specific demographic that it’s easier for, like affluent, white women, etcetera, and we exist to break those barriers.”

At the Las Vegas march on Saturday, Jameelah was one of the few Black activists present. “When we’re talking about reproductive justice, who are we involving in this movement? Who’re we bringing into this space?” She pointed out that there is an unengaged community that needs choices to become options. “Black women, first, can get abortions.” 

She then asked, “How do we engage communities of color into doing this work with us?... Not saying that everyone has to get an abortion, but if that’s your choice, if you need to get one… what does that look like? To have these honest conversations so that people know that they have options.”

The group credits the women of color-led group SisterSong with coining the term “reproductive justice”. 

The team’s graphic designer, Claire, joined the group after the recent Texas abortion ban. “I think it was a really important moment for me to just realize, like, there’s so much work to be done on the ground. And I think it's an important moment because I've seen a lot of other people realizing that and I think if we’re able to mobilize as many people as possible… I mean events like the one on Saturday, that was huge. I mean to be able to fundraise over $9,000 in one weekend is incredible, and I think it speaks to how pissed people are right now and I think it's just so important to continue that work, because it's not going to all happen over one weekend, at a march.”

Ramazan pointed out that the group relies on financial donations to continue their work.

“If we don’t have the money, we can’t do this work. I repeated it so many times in my speech on Saturday,” Carla said. “But, it’s really the backbone of what we do, like clearly we’re not profiting at all off of this. We do it because we love it and the one thing we ask from the community is that if you can spare five dollars, if they can spare a coffee a week, send it our way. Just know that it’s going to good use and funding someone’s abortion care.”

Reporting by Rachel Jackson for Our Town Reno

Heather Carpenter, Improving Ways for Neighbors in Need to Access Resources

Unifying Community Organizations

After joining the Washoe Food Not Bombs team nearly seven months ago, local activist Heather Carpenter, 35, decided to launch her own initiative, Washoe Basics, in hopes of helping her unhoused neighbors in other ways as well, from mutual aid group collaborations to spreadsheets and maps listing available resources.

Some of the reasons Carpenter got involved she says were both her need for community interaction during the pandemic as well as a search for like-minded people who wanted to help others.

“While I was doing Washoe Food Not Bombs I was like, okay … I'm not a chef, right? Yeah, I can cook up a few little things here and there, but cooking has never been my passion,” she told Our Town Reno during a recent interview. “But I do love participating, so one of the things I started doing was making these little, like, med kits, like hygiene kits … Because like I wanted to do more, you know? I love Washoe Food Not Bombs, but there were other areas in which I wanted to expand my work and do more.”

One issue Carpenter saw with the different mutual aid groups within the Reno-Sparks area was the lack of communication between each other, and the general public.

“So that was kind of where starting this whole documenting of all the different services I could find came about, was just again, kind of a frustration of you know, where can I do more? Where can I help, what needs need to be met? And how can I advocate for that?”

Since she lacked the experience needed to create an entire website for this information, Carpenter took to mapping out the different resources she found on Google Maps.

“As far as what I do for Washoe Basics, I’m still figuring it out essentially. But, you know like I said, Washoe Basics is just what I’m calling my work. I’m not necessarily married to this name or this organization or whatever it is, it’s more about doing the work, meeting the need, and finding different ways to collaborate with others to bridge those gaps and facilitate communication, because I think that’s a key thing here … Whether it’s because they need a resource, whether it’s because they want to volunteer for a different provider, or if it’s because they really want to donate, but they need to know which organizations they can trust.”

A Plethora of Resources

The map above created by Heather shows a documented collection of the different types of available food resources in the Reno-Sparks area. The interactive map also includes other areas of Northern Nevada. Carpenter hopes to one day expand beyond Northern Nevada, and include information for other areas as well. 

Carpenter’s main goal is to connect those with resources to those who need them. 

“There are a plethora of resources, you know, we are conditioned to have a scarcity mindset that is kind of one of the basis of capitalism, right, is this idea of scarcity. I don’t think it’s accurate. I don’t think it reflects the true conditions. We have so many resources. We have, you know, so many things available to us and it's just artificially being kept away from fair distribution … It’s a matter of communication, drawing people’s attention to the fact that there’s more than enough food to go around here.”

Carpenter also voiced concerns over the distribution of PPP loans to businesses during the pandemic, and how many potential housing units sat dormant during this time. The Santa Fe Hotel, which closed during the pandemic, had received a PPP loan, she says. While many lost their homes during this time, the hotel sat empty.

“There’s no reason why anyone should be sleeping on the streets,” Carpenter said. “There’s no reason why anyone should be hungry or suffering in these ways. We have the resources. There are plenty of people who are so ready and willing to do the work, they don’t even ask for all that much in return. All they want is to have a roof over their head and food in their belly at the end of the day … There is so much there, ready to create a beautiful community, and we’re just not doing it. Yet.”

Carpenter volunteers for Washoe Food Not Bombs every Saturday from 10AM to 2PM at Bennett Park. The menu on this day included tortellini, vegetables, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, greens, and more. 

Helping Hands

According to Carpenter, Washoe Food Not Bombs supplies many people with what will be their only serving of fresh vegetables for the week. People can also receive donations including masks, medicine, and backpacks filled with supplies, like those donated by Revolution Coalition in Las Vegas. 

Carpenter pointed out that when she arrives at the park in the morning, many of those who benefit from the services help out with unloading her car and setting up the table for serving. She stressed that it is very much a group effort.

When it comes to helping out Washoe Basics or Washoe Food Not Bombs, Carpenter said that donations are always welcome and can be accessed through a Linktree. She is also looking for help regarding collecting donations on Fridays, which would include driving around town to pick up food and supplies from others. 

Reporting and Photos for Our Town Reno by Rachel Jackson