Our 2022 #GivingTuesday Recommendation: Tu Casa Latina

“We deal with victims of domestic violence, abuse, also human trafficking and labor trafficking. We help those who are looking for resources, like filing immigration paperwork. Essentially we're a resource center. We help the victims get to where they need to get to, to get help,” explains Yolanda Arzola, outreach coordinator for Reno-based Tu Casa Latina, a nonprofit which has been around since 2014.

This includes helping immigrants trying get visas, who may qualify for special visas as undocumented victims of crime and human trafficking. They can come forward at outreach events, via social media or by calling or writing the office, and quickly getting assigned a case worker.

“Nevada consistently ranks in the top ten in the nation for domestic violence fatalities. This sobering statistic, plus the estimated 20,000 undocumented residents in Washoe County, clearly calls for a systemic effort to support undocumented residents who fall victim to circumstances of domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking,” the website of Tu Casa Latina explains.

Arzola says that given the nature of the population they help, donations are crucial to the organization. “We need to provide services, right. And then a lot of these people, they can't afford to pay for the services. So with donations, that would help to cover somebody's processing paperwork or even just allow us to have the ink to put into our printer so that we could print these documents out. Everything costs money at the end of the day.”

Volunteers and UNR social work interns also help out, and outreach to rural area recently started. Overall, the nonprofit’s caseload has expanded coming out of the pandemic.

“We are one of the few resources out there for the Latino community where they can feel comfortable and confident enough to come in there to look for resources. As a Latino community, it's really hard for us to understand that there are resources out there and we're kind of like a one stop shop. So we support all other organizations at the same time providing our services,” Arzola concluded to highlight the local value they provide.

Our Town Reno recommendation, November 2022

Whistleblowers Point to Problematic Group Homes and Many Other Challenges for Local Foster Kids

Siblings in foster care in California forced to eat their own vomit, agencies in Colorado reporting difficulties in placing LGBT+ youth and a priest in Kansas charged with wire fraud and money laundering while running a foster care nonprofit are some of the recent headlines of a child welfare system in disarray across the country.

Here in northern Nevada, current and former therapists, social workers and Department of Health and Human Services Division of Child and Family Services whistleblowers point to non nurturing group homes where a 10-year-old is still in diapers, there’s allegedly racial abuse directed at Black kids, and eating often consists of reheated pizza. 

Those who reached out to Our Town Reno to describe their work experiences within our foster care system wanted to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.  They said they are frustrated with a model that has children constantly being shifted from one group home to another, carrying around trashbags with their clothes, suffering from repetitive trauma, ignored until they hurt themselves or another child in varying degrees of severity, overmedicated and treated like young criminals, with cops called on them when they fight, steal from each other and try to run away. 

Some of the kids in the group homes then spiral further downward into youth detention centers. 

The whistleblowers pointed to Three Angels, JC Family Services and Call to Compassion as local for profit “specialized foster homes” they have worked with. These typically deal with more difficult children and also provide training and licensing to individual families.

Messages to the three companies for interviews about their practices went unanswered.  

Local child and family advocates say the lack of family foster homes is creating an over reliance on these group homes. One of our interviewees who went several times to a Three Angels group home described it as “cold and sterile,” with the adult on site acting more like a “guard than a foster parent.” This account was not independently verified.

A positive media report about Three Angels recently described the company as “a therapeutic foster agency [which] nurtures children ages 3 to 17, trains foster families, and works in partnership with the Washoe County Human Services Agency.” 

Washoe County has been pointing prospective foster families to the above website.

“We have seen a pretty significant decrease in foster homes throughout the pandemic,” Amy Sandvik, the program coordinator for Washoe County’s Human Services Agency, confirmed in a phone interview on the need for more homes. 

According to county released figures, there are currently 201 licensed foster homes in our area, including the group homes, compared to 239 before the pandemic, with 175 fewer beds.

“They provide care for children with more significant behavioral or emotional mental health needs,” Sandvik said of the group homes.  “If there’s any complaint of quality of care, just like in a family foster home, we would investigate that complaint and make any corrections as needed.”

When asked if there have been any investigations or concerns of the local group homes, Sandvik answered “Nothing significant.”

Trish Prestigiacomo, the clinical director for WC Health Northern Nevada, which provides additional therapeutic support for kids in local foster care, stressed the importance of communication. 

“Whether that's communication between the clinician, the foster family, the child, if they're old enough to have a say, in what happens to them, as well as really just what we call the multidisciplinary team,” Prestigiacomo said. “So it's kind of everyone coming together and talking about how we can best help the child. So the therapist, the foster care worker, the social worker, sometimes the biological parents, as well as the foster parents…. So just making sure that that communication is happening and that everybody feels that they are a part of making sure that everything that's happening is in the child's best interest.” 

Typically in our region there are 600 to 800 children in and coming into foster care, with nearly 40% under the age of 5. A shortage of local childcare spots has prevented some potential foster families from signing up, while current families have complained of ever increasing requirements such as having to go to the time consuming Safe Babies Court established in 2019, which some say is too “mom-focussed”, or not having access to the MyChart medical records of the kids they are fostering. 

The whistleblowers we interviewed called for more efforts to keep kids within their original families and to loosen rules preventing safe relatives from taking in a child. They also said having higher pay for social workers and therapists could create better quality care. One of them suggested having more former foster kids brought into the system to guide current foster kids, and more resources and support for parents to keep their kids.  

Recent academic research has pointed to the systemic racism of our foster care system.

The whistleblowers also singled out “over reporting” and “blind reporting” by police and schools, which leads to what they view as kids unnecessarily being separated from their families. 

Recent state level data indicates 89% of children placed into Nevada’s foster care system are removed from their homes because of neglect, such as being dirty or not having enough to eat, rather than abuse.

One of our interviewees wanted to see more of what’s called “differential response” to check in on families, without any reporting as is the case with a visit from Child Protective Services. 

Recent academic research (including in screengrab above) points to systemic racism and classism, a foster to prison pipeline, and our child welfare as a “family regulation system.”

“Like the criminal legal system, the family regulation system serves as another way for the state to police, surveil and traumatize Black, Indigenous, Latinx and poor families,” Ava Cilia wrote recently in the Harvard Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review.

“In fact, the majority of allegations that result in the removal of Black children from their homes do not involve abuse, but concern neglect arising from conditions of poverty or discriminatory welfare practices.  Empty fridges and pantries, children left unsupervised during work hours due to a lack of childcare, and the finding of multiple family members sharing one room are all reasons frequently cited for involving the family policing system,” her article indicated.

The above article in The Nation focused on a Washoe County adoption.

The whistleblowers we spoke to would like to see more individual foster families, while encouraging them to have as their goals getting kids to be reunited with their family, and still be there in case of relapse.

Whistleblowers also pointed to a recent case before the Supreme Court, involving a Washoe County adoption, which was outlined in detail in a recent article in The Nation (screengrab above). The decision expected in 2023 could gut a 1978 federal law known as the Indian Child Welfare Act, which has as its aim preventing family separations in Native communities. The adoption of a baby who was eligible for citizenship in a tribe in Texas by a local white family fits a trend of families turning to the foster care system to adopt, with diminishing foreign adoptions. The mom who adopted “Baby O” Heather Libretti indicates on her LinkedIn she started working for the Washoe County Human Services Agency this year.

Another Washoe County official is quoted as saying the “foster to adopt” trend is a positive development.

Sandvik encouraged those interested in becoming a foster family to reach out.  “I think in general, there’s a lack of awareness about really what the need is for foster care and foster homes,” she said in her interview with Our Town Reno.  “I would say that anybody who is thinking about it or has questions about it, we have informational videos on our website at https://www.haveaheartwashoe.us/.”

Prestigiacomo, the clinical director for WC Health Northern Nevada, stressed the earlier additional help arrives for children the better. 

“Our goal is to be able to assist them in living successfully and independently,  in the least restrictive environment by the time that, you know, they are aging out,” Prestigiacomo said. “It's very important. It can be difficult. A lot of foster children come with trauma and that's why they're no longer in their own families, is because of trauma. And so that is very difficult work, however, important work, because it's much easier to treat a child with trauma than seeing an adult for the first time with trauma and having to go back and having to help resolve some of that.”

Drop-in cots at the Eddy House above in 2020.

Locally, aging out foster youth have felt the brunt of rising rents and the Eddy House has stepped in to help this population as well as other at-risk youths in the 18 to 24 age range.  Some local advocates would like to see lower barriers for some of their programs. 

Trevor Macaluso, the Eddy House CEO, said the facility at 888 Willow Street is open 24/7 for intake, and that there are no barriers or limits to the length of stay at their emergency shelter.

“As long as they’re not a harm to themselves or others,” he said.  “If they start to have acts of violence where it’s not safe for them or other people, then we would help them find other accommodations.” 

The nonprofit is preparing to open up an independent living home for aged out foster youth, “so that they don’t have to experience life in our shelter, but can receive support and be able to transition successfully into adulthood.” The program is already operational and will soon add offsite living arrangements. The requirements to move beyond the emergency shelter at the Eddy House include sobriety and participating in classes.

“Increased services for foster youths is important,” Macaluso concluded.  “It’s unfortunate that they represent a third of the clients we serve.” 

Our Town Reno reporting, November 2022

Anwar, an Afghan Student in Metallurgical Engineering Trying to Get Asylum Here

Anwar, 24, a 2021 transfer, is the only Afghan student pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. When Anwar first came to the United States in 2019, he still had plans to go back to his country and help explore the mineral wealth there.

However, when the Taliban took over in 2021, his dreams of going back and setting up a business there were shattered. 

“I wanted to pursue mining and metallurgical engineering because universities back home did not offer that degree. I wanted to help build an income source that could help the economy of my country,” Anwar says.  

He has now turned his attention to getting asylum here and being able to stay beyond his degree.

“Going back to Afghanistan is not safe anymore,” he says.  

Anwar’s family was evacuated from Afghanistan a month before the U.S troops pulled out of the country, and his friends gave him details of the upheaval that followed.

“This all happened because the president [Ashraf Ghani] just ran away. He just left the palace. And all of a sudden, people panicked. It was like the ‘day of judgment’ we call it…the day the president left the whole city, the whole country just went into chaos.”

He says his family was fortunate to have evacuated right on time. 

“Many people who stayed were put in jails and are right now in prison. Afghanistan right now does not have free media. So most of that stuff is not being shared with the world. But the situation out there, people who are there right now are suffering from all the atrocities,” he says.

Anwar met us outdoors on a bright Friday afternoon in his traditional attire after attending Friday prayers at the Reno-Sparks mosque. 

Despite what his family and friends have gone through in the past year due to the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, he reminisces about the time he had spent earlier in his homeland. He says he often shows his friends here in Reno, the pictures of his previous family home and all the fruit trees around it.

“I have a lot of friends (here), but I miss people from my country,” he says. “Talking to them, sitting with them, going to weddings, the birthday parties we used to celebrate with friends… I hope that day comes again.” 

When friends in Reno ask Anwar about the situation back home, he is always willing to share his views and spread awareness.

“I've always told them (friends) that the people like the Taliban are not Afghans. They are not what we are. They are radical extremist people. They are uneducated, illiterate. They have not seen anything in their lives. They are very close minded. I don't consider them Afghan. I don't consider them Muslim even. That's not what Islam teaches us. Killing innocent people and being harsh to women, none of this is what Islam teaches us to do,” Anwar says. 

He is deeply saddened by the state of his country and believes that there should have been a peace agreement between the former Western-backed government and the Taliban. 

“If we could have gone through an agreement, I think that would have been a much better outcome. And we would not be forced to live here and going back would have been possible for us,” he says.   

Our Town Reno reporting by Kingkini Sengupta

"I'd Rather Die on the Streets," A Former Caretaker Avoids Cares Campus

“I was a caretaker for an old gentleman. And I cared for his home  and helped him do things, everything. And I lived there 22 years and when he died, I died. I've been out here ever since. And it's been rough, man. When you get out here, it's a whole different ballgame, buddy. When I was there in San Francisco, I had it made.  He was a dear old man.  He helped me tremendously. And when he died, that was it.  You've got no home, no more home. Before you know it, you wind up on the streets and stuff. But I'm 73 years old now.

When you live out here, you'll find out real quick, you suffer out here, man, This is like suffering really. It ain't no place to be, not on the street. I don't care where you're at, New York, whatever. This is just the streets that are just no good. 

They got a shelter here called Cares Campus. That place is so filthy and nasty. I've been in it. And that place is not fit for an animal. I'm serious. Just crazy people everywhere. It should be an asylum. It really should. That's what they should have made it. An asylum. I'm serious. And I quit going there and I said, ‘No way. I'm not living like this.’ I'd [rather] die here on the street.”

1st Person Reporting by Will Baker for Our Town Reno

Life on the Rails, A Modern Day Hobo Based out of Reno

“It was kind of crazy. There was the railroad cop and he was like shining his light all over the bushes and like yelling on his loud speaker, like, come out you fools and just all this yelling, all this crap.

And then it was like nighttime and we just like kind of snuck behind him and got on it. I got on my first train in Chicago. I guess I just kind of got started, like I started going to punk rock shows, like when I was in middle school. And then I just like started figuring out like a different way where I could live where I don't have to conform to normal society. 

Hobo is kind of like a term that's been misused a lot, especially recently. Like any bum could be a hobo, like where like, you know, it's like homeless people or houseless neighbors. They got all these different terms. Now, hobo originally was someone like a migrant farm worker. You would ride the trains to like a certain part of the country to go do that kind of farm work or you'd carry like a, your tool with you, like a hoe or something.

Most of hobo culture is embedded in secrecy and folklore. There's a lot of misconceptions. You know, a lot of people just assume you're on drugs. I don't know. It's just a matter of forgetting everything you were taught your whole life and I guess lowering your standards to where you're like, Okay, I could hold this cardboard, I'll sleep under this bridge, or these bushes or in this ditch, or like, I'll wake up and it's 10 degrees outside or something like that. Or just like generally I guess like most of the people out there are there because they're poor or because, it's like a poor person's hobby, I guess.

Some of the dangers are of course going to jail or getting caught or, falling off and dying or getting your legs cut off or getting frostbite or getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with no water. You don't want to get on something that's loaded because what's in there could shift and crush you. My great-grandfather rode trains and so I guess maybe it's in my blood.

The first train I ever rode was over here at Idlewild Park, the little train that goes around the pond. I guess I've kind of always liked trains. My parents, you know, they just, I guess they just want me to be happy. They think maybe I'm a little bit crazy sometimes, but I guess I'm not really trying to impress anyone … [I get to satisfy] wanderlust and adventure and see all those obscure places that you don't really get to see or go to. 

You meet a lot of interesting people too. Sometimes you just wake up under a bridge and you feel extremely lonely. You know, I'll be standing next to the train tracks and, you know, I'll be watching all the graffiti go by and, you know, sometimes I'll see markings or something from people that I've known who are like no longer alive and it's kind of like cool to see what people leave behind. I kind of just live it one day at a time at this point. I just do whatever kind of falls into my lap. [This] satisfies my soul.

1st person Our Town Reno reporting by Katelyn Welsh and Madison Lloyd

Bruce, a Transient former Contractor Strumming his Guitar while Battling Cataracts

Bruce, 62, is originally from Auburn, California – just a little way down the mountain from Reno – but says he hasn’t been able to go back home in three years.

“I had to get my ID. Somebody stole my suitcase, so I had to get a new one yesterday,” Bruce explains when asked about some of his current challenges. “They’ve still gotta mail it to me, but it’s done. I’m coming home.” Many people we meet on the streets of Reno aren’t from here, and say they want leave but sometimes are stuck, because of lack of funds or waiting for important paperwork.

“I was staying with a friend of mine, but she would’ve had to start paying extra if I was going to be there,” Bruce said of his living arrangements. “I’m heading back to California, I’ve gotta get my check and take care of some things so I can move to Winnemucca,” he said of his future plans.

When Our Town Reno met Bruce, he was soaking up the sun by the river in Wingfield Park, with his guitar propped up next to him. “Reno has been one big, fun adventure,” he said. “I’ve got people that are helping me,” Bruce motions to another man sitting across the park on the grass. “Mark and I got soaked last night. We fell asleep and the sprinklers came on. Soaked us. So we came over here [Wingfield Park] to dry our things.”

Bruce started strumming on his guitar strings, humming away. “This is a song that came from my mother who passed away,” he said.

You Have A Place

I woke up and you were on my mind
Wish I could find
Oh where d'ya take your memory, far away

I think about the love that we did find
You know the kind
That never ends and always stays
Within my heart, within my heart
You have a place

Bruce tells us of the time when his fingers were so badly injured, he couldn’t play the guitar; “I’ve been injured to where I couldn’t play. I didn’t sing for a long time either, but I have my voice back now.”

Besides the guitar, Bruce can play a multitude of other instruments including the banjo, saxophone, flute, and practically any instrument placed in front of him. “When you play the saxophone or wind instruments, you gotta build up the muscles around your mouth,” Bruce explains. “It hurts a bit. I had all my upper teeth pulled so I haven’t picked up a wind instrument yet, but I’m going to soon.”

Younger Bruce was a member of several bands growing up. He recalls some of their names; “Sweet Savor and Loose Gravel. We did Top 40 covers for a while, back in the 80’s. We’d pick a song out of the Top 40 list and we’d do it.” He begins further reminiscing on past music concerts he attended, his most memorable being Merle Haggard. Bruce is gearing up to go to some music festivals when he can, particularly jazz festivals, since he loves to play jazz music on his guitar.

Getting back up on his feet and road tripping to music festivals is the end goal for Bruce, but it’s been far from easy for him.

In the past year, Bruce’s cataract significantly worsened and is not only affecting his ability to get back working a job, but also affects his day-to-day life. “They kept getting worse and then “ I missed my surgery in July,” Bruce explains. “I thought it was on the 19th, and it was on the 9th. I just missed it, I had the dates mixed up. They gave me paperwork; I couldn’t read it. I can’t even see a phone screen.” Bruce explains that he can see shapes and shadows, but he couldn’t see details on our cameras or recording equipment, and mentioned that he has to be very careful walking across the streets, especially in Downtown Reno, where the roads are busy with cars and bicycles.

Bruce has a background as a contractor, and once owned his own construction company; “I do construction. I’m a contractor, and there’s a lot of work going on around here…I could go back to work and make $400 a day doing construction. I’m a certified crane operator,” he said.

Unfortunately, seeing as Bruce is now blind in both eyes, going back to work isn’t an option for him at the moment. Bruce has an eye surgery appointment scheduled for December of this year in Elk Grove. The operation will hopefully give Bruce his vision back. “I’m looking forward to it,” Bruce said. 

“I want to see again.”

The next step for Bruce is finding a way to get back to Lincoln, California, a 20-minute drive from Auburn, and over the hill from Reno, just two hours if someone could take him: “My money is down there,” Bruce explains. “I gotta get there to pick up my check. And my motorhome is down in Sacramento at my son’s house. I have food stamps, so at least I’m eating. That’s the main thing.”

Once Bruce gets to California and has surgery on his eyes, he wants to come back to Northern Nevada and set up his base camp in Winnemucca. “California and Placer County are just too high-priced,” he said. “California’s getting ridiculous.” He has big plans for a bicycle catering business in the area. “We’ve got all these bicycles, I’ve just gotta do it,” Bruce affirms. “I would sell American food; grilled sandwiches, beans, steaks, baked potatoes, salad. Keep it simple.”

Bruce ends with one last song, “Thank You Lord.” “I found the sheet music in the piano bench at my aunt’s when we were moving the piano. I sat down and started playing the song.”

Thank You Lord

Thank you Lord
For giving me a shoulder to cry on
Thank you Lord
For giving I a promise to rely on
Thank you Lord
For your love
And your precious love
Thank you Lord
For I needed someone to save me

Reporting and Photography by Gaia Osborne and Kingkini Sengupta

Local Monroe Schuler Foundation Takes Part in Global Holiday Shoebox Drive

During these challenging times, there are many children all around the world who are suffering and hurting more than usual. The Reno-based Monroe Schuler Foundation has been working to spread some joy to underprivileged children around the world during this festive season, and for many past Christmasses as part of a Samaritan’s Purse led drive. 

The humanitarian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse founded their Operation Christmas Child Program in 1970. The concept is simple: take a shoebox, fill it with fun and useful items for a child that is the age and gender of your choosing, and it will be sent off somewhere around the world to a child that needs those items the most.

“Samaritan’s Purse really makes an effort to find the most impoverished and hardest-to-reach children they can,” Brent Hardgrave, Samaritan’s Purse Area Coordinator explains. “They work with local churches in countries overseas and they do shoebox distributions at those churches, schools, out in the town center – wherever they can gather the kids together and hand out boxes. Operation Christmas Child has sent boxes to over 170 countries worldwide at this point in time. Since 1993, there have been over 198 million children that have received shoebox gifts. Last year alone, there were over 10.5 million and the goal this year is 11 million. It’s a very big program.”

Carol and Brent above. For those who wish to get involved, the cut-off date for online box-building is November 20th and can be accessed through the Monroe Schuler Foundation’s Operation Christmas Child landing page. If you plan on building a box at home and either dropping it off or arranging for pick up, boxes must be done by November 17th. On Monday 22nd November, Brent and his team will be collecting boxes from the Monroe Schuler Foundation along with six other local church drop-off locations, so make sure your boxes are in by those aforementioned dates. 

The Operation Christmas Child Website has a comprehensive list of all the different items you can fill the shoeboxes with, and also items they urge participants to leave out. Their recommendations are based on the child's gender and age range and include items such as stuffed animals, clothing, toothbrush, comb, picture and coloring books, and school supplies.

Carol Betz has been working alongside Beth and Michael Schuler of the Monroe Schuler Foundation for nearly 12 years. Carol suggests that when shopping for the contents of your shoeboxes, aim for “a balanced mix of hygiene items, some fun items, a special ‘wow’ item, and then school and educational supplies. Quite often, people will include a pair of flip-flops or sandals in their boxes since sometimes kids can’t go to school unless they have shoes.”

Brent explains the concept of a ‘wow item’ as “one thing that will grab the kid’s attention.” They also recommend enclosing a personal note to the child receiving the shoebox, along with a photo of yourself, your family, or your group. If you include your name and a return address, the child may be able to write back.

Items that box-builders are urged to avoid including are candy, toothpaste, gum, scary or war-related items like toy guns or military figurines, chocolate or food, fruit snacks, drink mixes, liquids or lotions, medications or vitamins, and anything breakable or made of glass.

“We used to be able to put candy in the boxes, but it held things up at customs so we can’t do that anymore,” Carol said. “But most of the boxes have personal letters inside. We normally do an in-person gathering, a box-builidng party. We provide tape, boxes, wrapping paper, and sometimes people will donate hygiene products like toothbrushes and combs for people to add to their boxes.”

A letter from a member of the Schuler family included with one of the boxes.

Michael Schuler’s mother started doing the shoeboxes years and years ago, and they used to hold the box-building event at the family house. For the past two years, due to health reasons amongst the family, they haven’t been able to host the in-person event they normally do. “We’re very hopeful that next year we can gather in person again and hold the event because it’s very fun,” Carol urges. “We encourage people to share the shoebox building with friends. Especially when we have the in-person party again next year, we want you to bring people! We provide food and drink, and encourage as many people as possible to get involved. I find that once people have done it, they often come back year after year.”

At previous events, the Monroe Schuler Foundation had speakers join them. “They were people who had actually received a shoebox,” Carol explains. “They came to our shoebox parties and told their stories which are phenomenal and sometimes funny. One girl told us about how she received a mini etch-a-sketch in her box, and nobody had any idea what it was. Then one day, she was twiddling the knobs and realized, by accident, you could draw with it! She said that even with the toothpaste they received, they’d use it so sparingly, dabbing it onto their finger to make it last as long as possible. The girl telling us these stories now works for Samaritan’s Purse because of how much she was impacted by the Operation Christmas Child program as a kid.”

For those opting to build their shoeboxes at home, they can get in contact with Carol at (775) 852-3427 or adm@renoseven.com to arrange a drop-off time. If participants cannot drop off the box, the Monroe Schuler Foundation will pick them up.

Despite not having an in-person celebration this year, shoebox building is going full steam ahead virtually. There are two options to get involved. The first is by going to the Monroe Schuler Foundation landing page on the Operation Christmas Child website. You can build the shoebox completely online, adding relevant items to your box for each category as you go along. Each box has a $10 shipping fee, which was just increased this year. It ensures that the boxes make it to the collection centers, and onto their final destinations. The Monroe Schuler Foundation will cover the $10 shipping and handling fee for every box.

The second way to get involved is to build your own boxes at home. You can use all kinds of boxes; cardboard, plastic bins, or an empty shoebox you have lying around in your house gathering dust. Karen explains; “I love the plastic boxes you can get from Hobby Lobby because they last so much longer. The kids will use them and keep their treasures in the box and take it to school with them. They also withstand the weather, so we do encourage people if they can to build with plastic boxes.” Additionally, there is no stated size limit for how big the boxes can be, however, Brent urges that builders stick to the shoebox size if they can: “Picture yourself being the little kid who has a shoebox sitting next to another kid who has a huge box three times the size. We really recommend a standard shoebox size to keep it fair.”

Once the Monroe Schuler Foundation has received and collected all the filled shoeboxes, they will be loaded onto cartons and shipped to one of the big processing centers for inspection before being sent to customs and their international destinations.

The centers are staffed by volunteers, who carefully open and go through every box, making sure that there is nothing among the contents that may hold the box up in customs, or is suspicious or inappropriate.

Last year, the Monroe Schuler Foundation’s efforts resulted in 963 Operation Christmas Child boxes built and sent to children all around the world. Their goal this year is 1000 boxes, and they are very motivated to reach that number. While some other churches in Reno are also involved in efforts to accumulate and donate shoeboxes to the program, the Monroe Schuler Foundation is by far the largest group effort in town.

Our Town Reno reporting by Gaia Osborne

Katie Pace, Helping Make Homes Safer for Local Homeowners in Need

Rebuilding Together Northern Nevada, a 501 c3 organization, which came to existence just two years ago, repairs homes to “revitalize communities.” It’s part of a national entity with over 120 chapters. 

“I had grandparents or grandmothers that were in their nineties and even 103 and it just seemed like, it's nice to be able to help folks that don't have the ability physically, maybe financially to live comfortably and safely. And so it seemed like a good, a good fit,” says Katie Pace (upper left in photo montage) of becoming executive director of an organization which has a mission to ensure safe and healthy housing for those with a crumbling infrastructure. 

“Rebuilding Together Northern Nevada helps homeowners, low income homeowners with repairs, home repairs at no cost to them,” she explained during a recent Our Town Reno interview.  “Currently we're in Washoe County and Carson City,” Pace said. 

Homeowners do go through a vetting process before they can benefit from the free help, with certain requirements to qualify. 

“We have income eligibility,” Pace said. “They must own the home. They must not be in foreclosure. They must be current on their mortgage and their property taxes. Then we also collect their identification so that it matches with the residency and bank statements. So there's a little bit of a vetting process.”

The main focus has been seniors, veterans and people with disabilities, “so that they can age in place, so they're not forced out of their home because they can't get around their home. So we'd like to help with either safety bars, bathroom modifications, accessibility and livability in the home. And when we do our marketing, we target community-based organizations like Aging and Disability Services.”

A big part of Pace’s work is getting volunteers to work on project and fundraising with grants and donations.  

For some big projects a corporation will be sponsor and bring volunteers to help. 

“Our first project was with Wells Fargo. So they brought 15 of their employees. We cleaned a lady's front yard added gravel … to make it zeroscape. So she had low maintenance, she's in a wheelchair and she had a disabled son as well. So all the things that we were doing, we were trying to low maintenance her home for her so she could get around easier and it was still appealing to the neighborhood. We also cleaned out the backyard. We gave her a new deck because the ramp [she had] was not secure anymore. So we had a ramp now that was able for her to get onto the deck. We trimmed a tree prior to that and then we also did a bathroom modification for her… The Wells Fargo employees were there to help us. We had two dumpsters full of unwanted items that they helped remove. Those are things that she wasn't able to do physically, remove some of these very large items. “

Being part of a national group helps with other projects. “We can make decisions on our own, but they provide templates and they provide ability to apply for grants,” Pace explained. “So they're out getting national partnerships for local chapters to then apply to our own organization for funding. So they provide a lot of support, a lot of guidance, technical contracts, releases, home agreements and whatnot.” 

The organization also helped revitalize the Eddy House, with reflooring, painting with branded homey colors, and adding a wall to create office space.

Pace said Rebuilding Together Northern Nevada has a mission which “falls in line with preservation of housing,” which helps people stay housed.

“They don't have to move into a rental market where they don't have control over their budget,” Pace said. “And this way they can stay where most of our homeowners have been in their homes for 15, 20, even 30 years. So they're not just coming in. They want to be where they are. That's where they've been for many years. And so being able to help them stay where they are comfortable is important. Many of our homeowners are living on Social Security, so they're very low income. So if they need food and medicine, those are the things they're paying for first. So maintenance of the home can be difficult for them if they have a pricey hot water heater.”

By helping with housing, Pace says she is also helping with the health of those being helped. 

“If you have shelter and you have a safe place to live, that goes a long way for quality of life, physically, mentally, independence, and so being able to help people in our community live safely is important.” 

Short staffing and in this case also finding volunteers and contractors has been a challenge coming out of the pandemic. 

“Being able to get to our projects as quickly as we want to because we're just two [staff]. We have volunteers helping with our application process. So sometimes it moves a little bit slowly for me. I'd like us to go a little bit faster and then being able to have contractors, because we pay our contractors to do skilled labor. The very important work in a home, whether it's plumbing or electrical roofing, flooring…”

Pace say Rebuilding Together Northern Nevada is always looking for good contractors to pay as well as volunteers.  And not just the handy come in handy in this case.  

“We’ll ask if you have skills, and then once we have repairs and whatnot, then we email our volunteers to step forward for certain projects that we might have. We do have lots of different types of positions for volunteers. It doesn't necessarily have to be someone swinging a hammer or you know, cleaning up a yard. We could use help with our social media posts.”

Current plans are to expand to 10 counties in Nevada, to help people in need in rural areas as well.

Our Town Reno reporting by Chris Darche

Starting Climate Cafes at the Reno Food Systems Farm in Reno

“When I talk about climate grief or eco-anxiety the most common response I get is, ‘oh I have that but I didn’t know that was actually a thing. I didn’t know it had a name,’” says Caitlyn Wallace. 

Wallace, a licensed clinical social worker, has started organizing monthly free and open to everyone Climate Cafes at the Reno Food Systems farm. Climate Cafes are based on Death Cafes which started in Europe as communal places where people can talk about their fear, and grief around dying. Even though they are open to attend, these spaces are completely confidential and what is said cannot be talked about with others on the outside. 

Climate Cafes were brought over to the U.S, Canada, and other parts of Europe by the Climate Psychology Alliance.

On its About page it writes: “Climate change is … an urgent, frightening, systemic problem involving environment, culture and politics. It engenders fear, denial and despair amongst individuals, evasion, indifference and duplicity amongst the powerful. It forces uncomfortable dilemmas about justice, nature and equality into consciousness. It challenges all of us in modern societies both personally and politically.”

Similarly to the Death Cafes, Climate Cafes are meant to bring people together and encourage them to talk about their feelings over a cup of coffee about issues that are possibly too big for individuals to solve on their own. “You can’t solve death and an individual can’t solve climate change but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have really big feelings around it,” said Caitlyn. She emphasizes the importance of sharing those feelings in a group where others likely share the same thoughts and where there is a support group. 

“The cafes are intended to bring people together not as a place to organize or rally those are important spaces but this is not that space. They’re more of an attempt to talk about their feelings and manage their feelings and get out of reactivity and into a place of responsiveness,” Wallace, the local organizer of Climate Cafes said. 

As of now, there have been two “Climate Cafes” that has been held at the Reno Food Systems farm but there are future plans for more. “My goal is to provide them on an every other month basis and then to offer them more regularly if the need is there,” Wallace said. There will also be options to zoom into the meetings once the cold weather starts rolling in. After registering, the zoom link can be provided by contacting desertbloomwellnessnv@gmail.com.

Wallace says these spaces are especially important to hold in Nevada.

“Reno is named the fastest heating city in the continental U.S. We’ve got smoke from the fires. We’re seeing major floods and major weather changes across the country,” she said. There is also a lack of providers and public services. Clinicians are struggling with extensive waitlists, while more and more people say they feel down or discouraged about the changing and degrading environment around them.

Our Town Reno reporting by Nancy Vazquez

Girls on the Run Sierras Looking for Volunteers to Help "Ignite Star Power"

“We want to make sure that girls have the confidence to ‘ignite their star power from within’ and tell themselves ‘I can do it, I’m going to try it, I’m going to do my best,’” urges Joy Heuer, Executive Director of Girls on the Run Sierras.

Girls on the Run International is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1996 in Charlotte, North Carolina, to strengthen, according to its own wording “third to eighth grade girls’ social, emotional, physical and behavioral skills to successfully navigate life experiences.”

Heuer explains how the organization first came about, with a “PE teacher named Molly who loved the physical component of running, but noticed that the girls in her classes were being overly hard on themselves and not striving to their best due to negative self-talk. Molly worked alongside schools and came up with the Girls on the Run curriculum almost 25 years ago.”

Girls on the Run now has chapters in all 50 states, and an additional chapter in Canada.

The Sierras chapter of Girls on the Run was founded in 2011, fully dedicated to making an impact on girls’ lives in the Northern Nevada and Tahoe region.

Beginning first in Truckee, GOTR Sierras has now expanded into Reno and serves the Washoe County School District as well as schools around Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and Incline. “This year has been our biggest year to date,” Joy explains. “We had over 700 girls participate over the two seasons, making up nearly 50 teams in total. We also have worked with around 200 volunteers.”

There are currently two programs available; ‘Girls on the Run’ which is offered to grades 3-5, and ‘Heart and Sole’ for girls in grades 6-8. These run for 10 weeks, with two 90-minute sessions a week.

The programs are more than just sports, however. Girls on the Run aim to make a stronger impact by teaching girls life skills such as managing emotions, resolving conflict, helping others, and making intentional decisions. “The first third of the program is all about the girl, and what makes her special and unique,” Heuer details. “The second part discusses friendships and emotions. In the last third of the program, girls form groups and begin working on a community project together. They choose a project that is important to them, whether that be writing letters to a nursing home or making fleece blankets for an animal shelter. The last step of the program is completing the 5k, and then celebrating them.”

The program curriculum is based heavily on research and is structured around understanding oneself, valuing relationships and teamwork, and recognizing how to shape the world at large. “Girls in the age group we target are like sponges,” Heuer said. “They’re constantly learning and taking in information. Age 11 is when girls typically begin criticizing themselves and their bodies and start to deal with peer pressure. We’re attempting to help them before that age so we can provide them with the tools and techniques they might need later on to help them work through confidence, body image issues, bullying; whatever they may be dealing with.”

Girls on the Run have stuck to their PE teacher roots, and work directly alongside schools in order to provide their programs.

A minimum of two GOTR volunteer coaches will hold the twice-weekly sessions at school locations, right after school. “We typically work with 3rd-5th grade teachers, PE teachers, and school counselors,” Heur explains. “They’re our biggest advocates and understand the potential of our program. School staff members have noticed themselves; Girls on the Run really does change a classroom and school. If three people in the classroom are learning compassion and how to use kind words, that will bleed into the rest of the classroom and school.”

The cost of the program is $200 per girl, however, operates on a sliding scale system, with payments of $95 or $35 available.

“We pride ourselves on never turning a girl away due to her family’s financial situation,” Heuer said. “We hold fundraisers, write grants, and work with sponsors to supplement the payments for girls who might not be able to pay the full amount. Even if they cannot pay the lowest amount, $35, we always find a way to get her into the program and her registration fees paid.” 

The interest and enrollment for Girls on the Run saw a huge spike coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Pre-pandemic, it was harder to convince families and schools that social and emotional learning and mental health were JUST as important as healthy eating and physical activity alone,” Heuer stressed. “Then in 2020, with the stay-at-home isolations, I think families and schools realized the importance of discussing and talking about mental health.”

Girls on the Run also sets itself apart from other sport-related program offerings because there is no try-out period. “All the girls need to do is sign up for a spot, and then you’re on the team. A lot of times, Girls on the Run is the first time a girl has ever been a part of a team before,” Heuer said. “We aim to provide girls with tools, yes, but also a sense of community. I love when we visit schools and get to see the camaraderie between the GOTR participants. Even if they’re in different grades or classrooms, when they’re together, they’re a team.”

Girls on the Run is open to all female-identifying individuals, no matter their assigned sex at birth. This past summer also saw the first rendition of “Camp GOTR”, a week-long summer camp for girls in grades 3-5. Girls on the Run partnered with FIRST NEVADA Robotics to offer coding classes to the camp participants in the afternoon. Teams worked to build a robot for their final “Mission to Mars”, after taking part in the Girls on the Run program throughout the morning session. 96 girls took part in the summer camp, filling up all the spots in two weeks. It is clear there is hot demand for this type of program, and they aim to host the summer camp every year alongside their fall and spring seasons.

As the Girls on the Run fall season approaches its end, the girls are only further gearing up for their final 5k. The race will take place on November 13th on the UNR campus, with the course beginning at William Peccole Park, snaking around campus, and then ending back at the baseball stadium.

“The physical component really is secondary in the program, so the 5k race isn’t timed. We just want the girls to put one foot in front of the other, go at their own comfortable pace, and finish. Even if they walk it, there’s absolutely no pressure,” Heuer said. Around 450 girls will be taking part in the race in November. Volunteers are needed on the 13th to help out at the race by cheering on the girls, coordinating water and snack stations, face painting, handing out finisher medals, and more. Volunteers must be 18 years old and can sign up here (applications must be in by November 8th).

Our Town Reno reporting by Gaia Osborne

Empowerment at The Women and Children's Center of the Sierra

“I am a true believer in bringing services to the people, and not making them jump through hurdles to come to us when they are in need,” says Pam Russell, Director of the Women and Children’s Center of the Sierra. “Sometimes women will come into our center, and need help right there and then. On the spot. Our job is to react accordingly.” 

Russell, along with five other employees and volunteers, work tirelessly to do just that: help the community. And they’re making a huge impact, serving roughly 350-400 individuals in the Reno city-wide area every month.

WACCS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was founded in 2008, largely in response to the Great Recession. “During that time, poor women – documented or undocumented – were one of the groups that got hit hardest during this time,” Russell explains. The Women and Children’s Center of the Sierra opened up their doors on Neil Road in order to offer help to struggling women in the community.

While the economy in Nevada is booming in certain pockets, not everybody is benefiting equally, and there are fears of a new recession around the corner. Home foreclosures continue to plague Reno communities. Families continue to wait in line at food pantries, and more people than ever are signing up for food stamps and other benefits. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, Nevada’s unemployment rate in August was 4.4%, compared to the national average of 3.5%. These numbers are much higher among single moms, as many haven’t returned to a job since they were forced to quit during the pandemic.

The Women and Children’s Center of the Sierra serves women who are at or below 185% of the poverty level, equivalent to about $37,000 for a family of three, or a woman with two children. For women living below the poverty line, each day presents new struggles, whether that be meeting the daily needs of themselves or their children, ensuring they have adequate food, diapers, transportation, or even personal safety. 

The Diaper Bank (pictured below) is WACCS’ most utilized service. They provide free diapers at distributions to women who meet their income guidelines. Women can also enroll in a program to receive diapers on a weekly basis. All the women must do is attend a distribution and complete a short intake form with a staff member.

“We distribute roughly 9,000 to 11,000 diapers every month to women and children,” Russell explains. “We also distribute potty training packets to new moms. During the first part of the COVID-19 pandemic, our packets potty-trained 13 children.” Baby formula is also available for mothers and children, an invaluable resource given the recent baby formula crisis.

“Some women can’t afford baby formula to begin with, let alone have the time to spend searching for it everywhere around town,” Russell said.

When WACCS first opened, they offered a Gateway to Success Program to women who were looking to find and stay employed in jobs.

The non-profit offered on-the-job training workshops at a coffee shop and boutique, and also offered GED test prep for women looking to further their education. Unfortunately, this program is no longer offered due to lack of funding.

Despite the lack of funds, this hasn’t stopped WACCS from helping women thrive and take steps onto new career paths. The center houses a hi-tech computer lab, donated by the Katie Grace Foundation, which is open for women to use the computers, printers, and other devices.

Workshops and classes are offered which teach typing skills, as well as help participants build and improve their resumes, apply for jobs online, and even provide insight in ‘dressing to impress’ for job interviews.

There are also classrooms with volunteers and professionals coming to teach a variety of topics, the most popular being ‘English as a second language.’ The classes are currently on halt, but will resume on January 1st.

While the Women and Children’s Center of the Sierra, by name, is geared towards helping women and children, they also serve an overwhelming amount of the unhoused population in Reno.

“The park right next to the center is home to a lot of people living on the streets,” Russell said. “We help anyone who walks through our door to the best of our abilities.”

While conducting the interview, a man came into the center. He asked for a towel and some soap for an unhoused individual living in the park who wanted to take a shower and clean himself up to go job hunting.

WACCS gave him everything the man would need for a shower, including shampoo and other hygiene products, grabbing items for him from their storage room in the back which are donated by the Assistance League. “

We have a man who is currently unhoused and lives in the park next door. He sometimes comes in for food, but shows up on a weekly basis and makes a $5 donation. We call him the Mayor of Neil Road,” said Russell.

“The by-laws say that we are an organization geared towards women and children, which we are. However, we also receive some amount of federal funding for domestic violence victims. We help men who may be in a domestic violence relationship, provide single dads with diapers, and open up our food pantry to them.” – Pam

WACCS’ food pantry serves both women and their families as well as the unhoused community on a daily basis.

“We don’t pre-bag items,” Russell explains. “The food products are out and available for anyone to take, we just ask that they sign their name on the sheet provided so we can track how many people are coming in.”

The concept of allowing individuals to come and bag their own food with no questions asked, helps remove the stigma or fear of judgment surrounding the use of food pantries.

They also have a ‘Karma Box’ – a colorfully painted wooden food pantry – located outside in the parking lot. It remains stocked, and is open 24/7 for people who need food when the center is closed for the day. The Karma Box was sponsored by Broadbent – a Reno-based environmental consultancy firm.

Other local organizations have stepped in to assist WACCS in the past, including Reno Food Systems. “When they still had an operating food truck, they’d come to the center, park out front, and hand out fresh and nutritious foods to the community,” Russell said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, WACCS was one of the only centers and food pantries to remain open. “Not many organizations were able to do this,” Russell says. “We made it a priority since that was a period of time when people needed help the most. We had to close for two weeks at one point though. For myself, and the other ladies working here, it was the worst time ever. We hated being away from the center, but the women in the community adapted and helped one another during the time we were closed.” 

The winter months are fast approaching which marks a critical and very busy time for the Women & Children’s Center.

“The holiday period can be an especially hard time for the mothers we serve,” Russell said. Kids will go to school after Christmas and compare presents. This leads to children saying things like ‘Santa doesn’t love me as much as the other children’ because they get more or better toys, which is heartbreaking for a mother to hear.”

To combat this, WACCS runs a holiday program to distribute gifts to families, supported by donations from community members and local businesses. “We have one individual that runs gift drives and fundraisers, and donates a big portion of gifts to us every year off his own back,” Russell said.

Center regulars, single mothers, domestic violence survivors, class attendees, and those enrolled in the Diaper Bank program get first priority when it comes to receiving gifts.

WACCS creates a wish list of women and children, so individuals who want to donate can sponsor a family and shop according to their ages or what they need the most. Russell explains how “just yesterday, we had a woman come in wanting to adopt a family. She specifically wanted a young mom with two children.” Some local businesses sponsor multiple families. The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada sponsors around six to seven families every holiday season.

“Can we guarantee help? No. But we do our best to serve them as best as we can. And if we don’t have the resources or services they need, we direct them to a different local organization that can,” Russell concludes.

Our Town Reno reporting and photos by Gaia Osborne

Merlin, Unhoused after his Wife's Passing and His House Sold at Auction

“Normally I go places where they're feeding. Coffee's important in the morning. Normally I cruise like up and around. Lately the park's been, I don't know, it seems like some of the hoodlums are gone, so it's not so bad. You know, you can't turn your back sometimes. Just take your stuff. 

My wife passed away and found out that she hadn't made a house payment in like 42 months. And I called the mortgage company and I was like, ‘Hey, can I get the same deal?’ And they're like, ‘What?’ And I go, ‘She didn't make a payment for 42 months.’ I said, ‘You know, now that she's gone, I said, Can I get 42 months free?’ They're like, ‘No, we're gonna pull it up for auction. You'll be out in 90 days. ‘

I go to St. Vincent's for my hygiene stuff. I go up to Evelyn Mount, take a shower about every third day, because they're charging 10 bucks now. 

Then my laundry, I do on Fridays at the laundromat down here, it's free. 

You get to know all the free, you know, it's like, you know, this guy, this guy works for $18.50 an hour and he's got as much money in his pocket right now as I do in mine, and I don't work. And I got two dollars and 82 cents.  He goes to work 12 hours a day, four days a week. It's like crazy. And he lives in the park. So what does that tell you? 

I haven't been to the homeless shelter because the lady that worked there, that works for the county now, she said, ‘if by all means, if you don't have to go there, don't go there.’ It's horrible. But I haven't been there, so I don't know firsthand. 

She just said, she just told me, you know, she was my case worker way back, three years ago, and I saw her at the senior center and she's just like, ‘If you don't have to go there, don't go there.’ 

But you know, if you have to go there,  then you know, it's covered. It's warm, da da da. Other than that, if you don't have to be homeless, don't be, seriously, I mean, there's a lot of people that wouldn't last two days.

You get used to not having a social life. 

Half these people you don't want to talk to. And the other half, you know, if they're talking to you, they're looking at, you know, my stuff. 

They're trying to see what they could take. If I close my eyes, people are people, well, we're not all bad. All the homeless aren't, aren't creeps and, you know, people have a [perception] about what homeless are and it's like, you know what? You got it wrong. You know, some of us are people that are just down and out for a minute. You know, I don't need your three dollars. You know, I don't need you to give me a sandwich. 

I just need you to leave me alone for a minute and let me be, you know, that's it.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Makayla Hardy

Nevada Marches Forward With Webinars to Create Positive Change

From Zoom webinars to marches, the Northern Nevada Marches Forward Reno-based non-profit organization wants to make sure our society progresses through elections, shared awareness and discussions, rather than veer backwards.

Their mission is to support, spotlight, and uplift the voices and power of diverse people and communities to create transformative social change. By hosting activist marches and monthly educational webinars on a diverse range of topics, Northern Nevada Marches Forward seeks to educate and inform people on how to take individual action and advocate for one another.

The organization began by helping coordinate an annual Reno Women’s March. There have been six editions of the March so far, with the first one having taken place in 2015. Chair of the organization, Jackie Shelton, explains that the Marches were “already being held nationally. Mylen Hawkins, who was a big activist in Reno for decades, brought the Women’s March to Reno, recruiting all of us, which is how we got involved. The beginnings were very much a grassroots effort.” 

The first event in 2015 had thousands and thousands of attendees, marching through the streets of Reno with homemade signs.

“It was really a national movement, and we were a part of that. Our March was just especially large. Especially for Reno, we don’t think anyone was expecting that kind of a turnout,” Vice Chair (and soon to be Chair come January), Jane Grossman (in Zoom screen shot below), says of those beginnings.

“We are not trying to be a be-all end-all,” Jane Grossman says. “We are trying to uplift other groups that are doing great work and bring attention to them by using our growing platform to network and promote.”

The last two Reno Women’s Marches were held virtually, due to COVID-19 lockdowns and stay-at-home restrictions. The most recent event, the 2022 Reno Women’s March, happened in January 2022 through Zoom. The theme was “More Unites Us Than Divides Us”, and many prominent Nevada women attended as speakers, including U.S. Senator now running in a tight reelection race, Catherine Cortez Masto, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen, and Nevada First Lady Kathy Sisolak among others.

“We had people submit photos of themselves from past events which we used to hold a virtual march with music,” Shelton says.

The first five years of the Reno Women’s March was run solely by volunteers, before they became an official and registered non-profit: Northern Nevada Marches Forward. “We realized that the subjects we were talking about were so important that the events needed to be more than just once a year. So we became a non-profit as a way to be more inclusive, since we aren’t just focused on women,” Shelton said.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are the cornerstones of Northern Nevada Marches Forward’s beliefs and advocacy work.

“Every month or so, we host a webinar,” Jackie Shelton explained. “We bring in people from other organizations to talk about a specific issue. We aren’t experts on everything, so we bring in people to talk about particular topics, and we just provide a platform for them.”

Previous webinar recordings can be found on NNMF’s website. Past topics have included LGBTQIA+ ally training, intersections of gender-based violence, the illusion of inclusion, among others.

The first webinar NNMF hosted as part of their Education & Action Series Recordings was titled “Antisemitism is on the rise” and was led by Grossman. She was joined by other Jewish local residents to discuss the rising incidents of antisemitism and how it is impacting the local community and beyond.
“Our Board is quite well connected, but we could always use more people and more diversity,” Grossman said of future events they are planning. “We would love people to recommend issues and speakers to cover them.” If you would like to suggest a future webinar topic or speaker, you can do so through this form.

The next Reno Women’s March – the 2023 edition of the event – will be held in March next year, instead of the usual January, due to more pleasant weather and March being Women’s History Month. March 25th 2023 is the confirmed date for the event, and the processions and speeches will begin at the Believe Plaza in Downtown Reno.

NNMF is also planning on hosting a mixer for any Reno-based local non-profit organizations at the start of December. It will be a way to make new connections and learn about other resources and groups in the community. 

Our Town Reno reporting by Gaia Osborne

George, Avoiding the Cares Campus, Even When Temperatures Dip

As colder weather descends upon us, George shares with us why he'll never return to the Cares Campus facility, whatever the hardships outside, because of the conditions inside, from dangerous drugs to uncleanliness, to the food they serve, to people with mental breakdowns.

“I’m from a little small town. I went to San Francisco, I lived there 22 years. [Being without housing] it's just hard, man…. You gotta try to survive, you know? So it's hard. Very hard. I find a place where I can, you know, just lay down, camp out.

Sometimes they're pretty rude here sometimes. They want to beat you up and everything. You know what I mean? And they got a shelter out here on Fourth Street and that place it's a mad house. It's like a nightmare. I'm serious. It's filthy dirty.

It shouldn't be a shelter. I'm serious. You got some nutty people in there. And that's one reason I came out here. I said, I'm [not] living in there. I couldn't do it. Yeah. It's just too hard, man. Just filthy man. And the people don't do nothing.

And, I’ll tell you another thing, there's a lot of dope coming through there. It's called fentanyl. It's running these people nuts. I'm telling you it, this, it'll kill you. It's killed a few people [there]. It's a very dangerous drug.

It's going to get really, really cold. This is just a taste of how cold it is early in the morning. It gets pretty cold early in the morning, but that's just a little taste of what's coming. It's going to get really freezing: rain, snow, everything. It's going to be rough. But no, I ain't going [back to the shelter].

The food [there] is atrocious. The food is horrible [that] they serve out there in that shelter. I'm not going back. No matter what happens, I'm not going to that place.

They got the housing, but you gotta wait forever to get on there until someone dies or something.

Might get a spot. But it is just hell man.

Reno, I'll tell you about Reno. It's no place to be homeless … not in Reno. I don’t know why I'm still here, but I am."

Humans of Reno reporting by Russ Reinap

Beadles Gives to Lorton, an Unlikely Debate and Firefighters Spray Around Cash in City Council Races

The latest July to October fundraising figures are in for local races, with far-right firebrand Robert Beadles giving mayoral candidate Eddie Lorton $4,799.70 in August, and developers, casinos and firefighters giving tens of thousands of dollars to local candidates.

Lorton is currently promoting an October 27th debate with Mayor Hillary Schieve (see screenshot below) to be moderated by the often quoted by Beadles Nevada Globe, but it seems unlikely the incumbent was even consulted with this idea. We emailed her office but have yet to hear back.

Lorton’s expenses include $42,000 to JB Marketing, as his campaign ramps up its presence on signs, social media and with promotional videos.

Schieve received $5,000 from Elect Oscar Delgado (who presumably won’t need that money for himself anymore, now that he’s stepped down from Council), $10,000 from the Builders Association of Northern Nevada (whose Board of Directors are major developers), and $5,000 from the Reno Fire Fighters Association. She gave a whopping $98,745 to Fong Menante Media, perhaps to be filmed dunking herself in the Truckee River.

Has Mayor Schieve even been alerted to this?

Jay Kenny, the challenger in the Ward 2 race, also got $10,000 from the Builders Association of Northern Nevada, $9,000 from the Bob Lucey Campaign Fund (who lost his primary to keep his County Commission seat) and thousands more from casinos, while spending over six figures with Reach Plus Consulting. His total contributions in excess of $100 for the quarter amounted to nearly $115,000, the highest by far of all Council candidates, with Schieve getting the second most at $45,493.

Kenny’s challenger, the incumbent Naomi Duerr, got just over $40,000, with $5,000 from the Reno Fire Fighters Association, and $2,500 from the Atlantis. Her money mostly went to Tallac Strategies.

In the Ward 4 race, Bonnie Weber got $7,500 from the Builders Association of Northern Nevada, while spending her biggest chunk with Davis Rounds Advertising. Her challenger Meghan Ebert got her biggest donation from the Reno Fire Fighters Association at $5,000 with most of her spending on Lamar Advertising.

While casinos and developers come as no surprise as big spenders, and Beadles has made himself known of late attracting media attention, making websites, sending text messages and flyers to local mailboxes, the firefighters, although of course allowed to do so, it seems put themselves in favorable conditions for whenever their wages and budgets are decided.

Our Town Reno reporting October 2022

Family Soup Mutual Aid Prepares One Year Donation Drive Bash

Family Soup Mutual Aid is a local group organized by advocates, activists, and everyday citizens of Reno. Their goal is to provide the most vulnerable and marginalized members with the necessities and resources they need to survive and be comfortable while living on the streets. Since the project's genesis in October of 2021, Family Soup Mutual Aid has helped hundreds of individuals by serving them hot meals, providing hygiene necessities, harm reduction tools, clothing, and more.

It all began in October of last year, when co-founder Nicole Anagapesis took a visit to the Believe Plaza in downtown Reno. She noticed that the whole plaza had been fenced in, a purposeful move by the city to discourage unhoused individuals from gathering there. This is a phenomenon happening all over Reno, with gates and large rock boulders springing up to purposefully push the unhoused out of public spaces.

Fewer and fewer places became available for them to gather, and Nicole was furious to find out that the Believe Plaza, a popular meeting place, was heading down the same route.

“People are furious. These are moms, everyday people, not just tree-hugging hippie activists,” Nicole said of the volunteers who help. “Regular people from all walks of life are volunteering their time and labor to Family Soup because they realize that something is horribly wrong.”

Nicole approached a couple of people sitting in the plaza, asking them if they needed anything. They told her that a new tent, a tarp, and blankets would be very helpful, to which Nicole told them to come back the following week, and she would have the items to meet their needs. The rest is history. Nicole continued returning to the plaza every Tuesday, putting a call out to her friends and the rest of the Reno-wide community to get involved with the cause. A year on, and roughly 50 to 100 individuals come to distribution on a weekly basis. The evening I met the group at Cypress, they had just finished serving 200 people at the plaza; the most people they’d ever had at distribution since they started.

Nicole (left) joins other volunteers for a post donation drive impromptu photo shoot celebrating their one year of dedication.

Sienna Russell, Family Soup’s other co-founder, explains how the group gained traction at the very beginning of their journey.

“We had these pamphlets made which had information about who we were and our distribution evenings,” Sienna remembers. “I’d keep them in my car, and whenever I saw a panhandler at a traffic light or on a street corner, I’d give them a pamphlet and whatever change I had. If I didn’t have any on me at the time, I would just hand them the pamphlet and tell them to come by the plaza on Tuesday if they can hold out until then.”

Aundi Gonzalez has been involved with Family Soup Mutual Aid for the past three months. “At the very first distribution I went to, I saw one of my neighbors in the line, an elderly man who lives in my complex,” Aundi said. “That made me want to cry because I see him around my apartment complex all the time, and I had no idea he was struggling at all until I saw him waiting in line at the plaza. It makes you realize that this is a problem which is very close to home. Anyone could be struggling and you’d have no idea from an outsider's perspective.”

Lauren Taylor, another organizer, chipped in; “A lot of people come along with their kids and pets. We have childrens’ clothing and dog food available for them, and it always gets cleared almost instantly.”

A volunteer serving hot drinks during a recent night at Believe Plaza.

As well as offering people food and hygiene products, Family Soup also provides warm clothing, jackets, tents, and tarps; essential items to survive the brutal winters of Reno.

“The weather in Reno can get so extreme,” Sienna said. “And not everyone has a closet to store their clothes. Some people are carrying their entire wardrobe around with them.”

In fact, most of them are carrying all of their belongings with them. Everything they own, crammed into a backpack. 

Sienna and Aundi begin to discuss “sweeping” incidents that have occurred intermittently in the city. Sweeping is the eradication, displacement, and eviction through physical force of encampments. Police officers will approach camps and issue an eviction notice; an order for everyone living there to move their tents and belongings.

Aundi distinctly remembers a man who approached her at a recent distribution. “He seemed nervous and apprehensive to talk to me and ask for whatever he needed. But eventually he came over and told me his camp just got swept while he was gone. The cops came and took all his belongings, all he was left with was a backpack. He had nothing.”

Backpacks and belongings, potentially containing birth certificates, IDs, and other important paperwork are sometimes thrown away.

Family Soup Mutual Aid firmly believes direct action is the answer to help those in need. Aside from being very consistent with their Tuesday distributions, Nicole has been regularly attending city council meetings, conversing with council members and using these meetings as a platform to speak out and advocate for change.

They’ve also organized womens’ abortion rights protests throughout the year. The first one took place in May just before Roe v. Wade federal protections were overturned.

Two of the group members, Ria Fraley and Lauren Taylor found out about Family Soup Mutual Aid through the protests, and got involved shortly after.

While some advocates are proponents of voting, Nicole strongly believes that “what you do at a ballot box does less for immediate changes in real time. Discourse isn’t enough, action is what it takes. And when I say action, it can take so many different forms. At its core, it's really about fighting the system and getting involved with grassroots organizations. The most revolutionary thing you can do is talk to your neighbors and see what you can do to help them.” 

Nicole made it very apparent that Family Soup Mutual Aid is wholly based on deficit, and not personal gain. Despite having additional volunteers helping out on Tuesday with distribution, the day-to-day operations and organization are left to eight core members, all of whom already have full-time jobs and other commitments. Sienna is working a full-time job as well as being a caregiver, all the while being heavily involved in Family Soup. Nicole vocalizes that “most of us are living paycheck to paycheck and operating at a financial deficit already. Family Soup is not for the faint of heart, but this project is my entire life.”

So what’s next for Family Soup Mutual Aid? Their next major goal is to establish a commercial kitchen to use, which is proving to be anything but straightforward. “We need local businesses who aren’t working towards a tax break who are interested in helping a community outside of their own personal and political gain,” Nicole said.

A commercial kitchen would make it easier for Family Soup to prepare and cook meals for distribution. The people who attend distribution and receive these meals actively express their wishes to be involved and help with the cooking. “They already help us in whatever ways they can,” Nicole said. “Whether that is helping us carry stuff from our cars, bringing clothes and other items to share with their friends, and advocating for Family Soup by telling others we are trustworthy. We’re helping them, and in turn, they’re helping us. When they express interest in helping in the kitchen, it sucks when we have to turn them down. Everybody wants to be an integral member of society, it’s not a bizarre concept that people want to contribute to the greater good around them.” 

While spending time with these incredible individuals near their upcoming basj at Cypress and seeing them get to work helping people at the Believe Plaza, it’s clear that Family Soup isn’t your regular mutual aid organization.

A real welcoming, family dynamic is at play between the organizers. They urge anybody who wants to give back to the community and help in some way to get involved with Family Soup Mutual Aid.

As well as coming by on Tuesdays to help with distribution, or donating items or meals, Family Soup needs people who are interested in being involved with the day-to-day operations. The menial, thoughtless tasks such as picking up donations, cleaning and sorting clothing, and Costco runs. Young people are more than welcome to come and help. Nicole spoke fondly of a young thirteen-year-old girl named Lilly, who began attending distribution with her mom. Lilly really wanted to get involved and give back, and after only three weeks of involvement, Lilly showed up on Tuesday and handed Nicole an envelope with a $300 check. “She had raised the money for this donation by fundraising herself, I was speechless. It's so cool seeing young people actively express the desire to get involved with organizations like ours.”

Our Town Reno reporting and photos by Gaia Osborne

Sue Smith, a Former Councilwoman Wants Public Involved in Decisions Again

Sue Smith, a former Ward 4 City Council member in Reno from 1987 to 1991, enjoys the UNR campus where she used to be a student, the beautiful fall weather we’ve been having in October, the local arts and theatre community, and so many aspects of the Biggest Little City, but there is one current negative amid all these positives: she believes our local governance needs to open up again.

“I see more and more in the current Council that the public is being taken out of the process. The neighborhood advisory boards, I was on a Neighborhood Advisory Board after I got off of Council, and we would have a project presented to us before it went to the Planning Commission, and we could make comments, and changes were made based on the meeting at the Neighborhood Advisory Board,” she said.  “I think now the Neighborhood Advisory Board is really informational. You have very little opportunity.”

Smith says she feels it’s gotten worse since the pandemic. “The council got used to, I don't know how they were making their decisions, through their phone calls or whatever with each other, but they do not seem to be interested in involving the public in decision making.”

Smith mentioned a controversial apartment complex going up on the corner of Washington and Riverside in the Powning District (see recent photo below). A previous approval in 2006 was for an 11-unit condo, which turned into 34-unit project necessitating the uprooting of old trees across from the Truckee River. 

“They just seemed oblivious,” Smith said of public commenters.  “Now they want to say that this was approved by a previous Council, but it wasn't, it wasn't approved to be what it became by a previous Council. And they, some of the Council people, when you go to the meetings, and especially at this one that I observed, they were an advocate for the developer. And that is very disheartening when you're there for a public hearing to feel like their minds are already made up and they're actually telling you why.”

Memes and angry social media comments have been circulating of late locally after the council members had no votes for Lily Baran’s bid in the Ward 3 selection process to replace outgoing council member Oscar Delgado, despite overwhelming outpouring of support from other community members during public comments.

“Maybe in the selection process, there's a bias about who you would appoint and you want to appoint somebody who thinks like you. It seems like maybe that's human nature, which would be the reason that appointments are not the best way to get the new City council members,” Smith said.  “I also understand their argument that to have an election would be a process that would take a lot of time when [we are in] the middle of an election. So we'd have to wait, We'd have that absent seat for that period of time. So it’s a difficult question, but I do think that what's happening with three of them being appointed, [Devon Reese initially, and Kathleen Taylor to replace Neoma Jardon] within their own group is really like, it's like they're generating their own thought process over and over again. “

Smith also finds it strange Jardon and Delgado quit their terms two years in right before the 2022 midterms. 

“It kind of seems nefarious because, it's like they get to a point, their successor is appointed by all of their friends, which there does seem to be camaraderie. And then that goes into the cronyism, I think we're all experiencing from the people on the city council. So it's highly suspicious. I don't know that anybody has exact proof of what's going on, but I think we're all feeling a little bit like our council members are feathering their own nests and not necessarily looking out for the interests of all of us in the Valley.”

Smith says she misses the time of former Mayors Barbara Bennett (in screenshot above), who inspired public involvement, and then Peter Sferrazza, during whose time she was on council.

Bennett who won her only term in 1979 was often unpopular with business owners as she was concerned by out of control growth and how it impacted water and air quality, as well as access to affordable housing, issues that sadly have been talked about but not effectively impacted by local leadership. 

Bennett, who had a rough life, at one point raising three teenagers after barely surviving a heart attack, got an ethics policy passed in 1982 and pushed to include citizen participation in government.

“I had been involved with city politics because of a project that was built next to my home that did not comply with building codes,” Smith said. “And it was right at the time that the city council had changed. “In that election, Barbara Bennett and Pete Sferrazza were elected. And so there was a change. We started having more of an emphasis on planning. At that point, the planning was being done through Washoe County, so Reno did not have any real say.”

Bennett, she remembers, always met with people and gave them opportunities to be involved.

“Her issue and how she got involved is she lived in a trailer park on Oddie Boulevard. Trailer parks were a temporary use. At any time a developer could come in, tell everybody to move, and the trailers were not easy to move, and she was able to get that law changed and got herself elected to being the mayor.”

Currently Smith says residents and local media should pay more attention to what the city manager and city attorney are doing.  

“When I was on the city council, we were paid $9,000 a year. You gave direction to the city manager, and the city manager ran the city, and that was how that was done. It’s become more complicated, but it really does make a big difference who your city manager is. Of course, then, the city manager is supposed to take direction from the city Council. The other one that I would think is not paid very close attention to is the city attorney. And we currently have a city attorney that is trying to take away public standing in any public hearing. Really what it will do is it will make the only one that has standing be the developer. And so it'll take away appeal … all of those kind of things.”

Smith who had been a social worker and then went into commercial real estate says she’s thought of running again,  but has stopped short of doing so. 

“I’m not going to do that,” she said. “Life moves on. I've got six grandkids and I've got other things that I'm involved in, but I certainly try to give … a piece of my mind on a regular basis.”

To those disillusioned with current practices, she says they should not give up hope, while still pushing for change.

 “You can be involved on the outside as well as on the inside,” she said. “You need to educate yourself about how the system works and take your anger into actually educating yourself as to why things are happening.” She says this was the approach Bennett once took, and that eventually made her victorious as mayor, even though she had lost previous elections for other posts. 

Our Town Reno reporting, October 2022

GreenUP! and Donna Walden, Promoting Sustainable Dining and Making Businesses Greener

“We’re looking for businesses with heart,” Donna Walden says of her drive to make our area greener, by looking for partnerships with local businesses to lessen their environmental damage. “They care about sustainability, they want to know what more they can do to help keep Nevada beautiful for future generations.”

In 2008, Walden founded greenUP! a 501(c)(3) an environmental non-profit organization operating out of Carson City. It was founded to pull together multiple environmentally inclined non-profits in the Reno-Tahoe region to create a coordinated environmental calendar, share information, and promote common initiatives. Since it began, greenUP! has worked in tandem with other organizations in Northern Nevada to encourage businesses to be more environmentally conscious and actively work towards reducing their waste output and resource consumption. 

“Most recently, we’re known for our work with the Nevada Green Business Program and the Green Dining work that we’ve been doing,” Walden explained, listing some of her current initiatives. “We partnered with Western Nevada College to receive federal funding and funding from an environmental protection agency to start a Green Business Program for the state of Nevada.”

The coalition called The Nevada Green Business Program was officially started in 2019. They work with businesses at no cost and their services are provided for free. They assign a sector-specific checklist of best environmental practices that businesses can implement, and then provide assistance and resources to help them complete the checklist.

Once certified, greenUP! helps to promote these passed ‘green businesses’ throughout Nevada. “We’re targeting small to medium-sized businesses,” Walden said. “Big companies usually already have large sustainability teams, like Patagonia for example, and won’t learn anything new from us. So our sweet spot is those smaller businesses.”

Green Dining Nevada is hosting a Community Pledge and Mayoral Proclamation at 12:00 p.m. on October 11th, at the Wild River Grille in Reno. Community members can take a pledge to support sustainable dining, register to receive green dining tips and the first scoop on green events and notifications for new green-friendly restaurants.

The checklist for businesses wanting to improve their green conduct is sector specific, and they currently have 30 different versions available. “There’s pollution prevention, water, wastewater, transportation, energy, and solid waste,” Walden said. “Each category consists of a certain number of core and optional measures that they must do, or could do. Questions such as, ‘do you have a sustainability plan for your company?’ And if they don’t, we have a template they can use to create one.” 

The Nevada Green Business Program consists of greenUP! and seven other partners: The Reno and Sparks Chamber of Commerce, the City of Reno, Envirolution, GreenACT Nevada, Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful, Incline Village General Improvement District, and GRN Vision.

Walden points out that the Green Business Program also helps all of the partners “to build a database in order to collect environmental outcome measures.” The program utilizes an online platform called GreenBizTracker. This program not only makes it easier for businesses to go online, register, track their efforts, and become certified, it also allows the Nevada Green Business Network to collect and aggregate their data in order to measure outcomes from the practices being implemented. That data is then used to report the collective impact that the certified green businesses are having, and how that contributes toward the state of Nevada’s environmental goals.

The businesses greenUP! is currently working with “already have their mind set on sustainability,” Walden said. “Even though there are cost savings and benefits to the businesses, most of them are doing it because they want to do something to preserve the planet.” 

Aside from helping protect the environment and fighting climate change, registering your business as a ‘green business’ can reap many rewards, Walden says. Implementing practices that reduce energy, water, and waste leads to utility cost savings, improves operational efficiency, and lowers maintenance costs to businesses.

Using non-toxic cleaning supplies protects the health and wellness of employees by improving the indoor air quality of workplaces. Walden also outlines the promotional benefits available to businesses who choose to go through the program: “businesses get to be listed on a nation-wide directory of green business programs,” she said. “If somebody is visiting Reno and wants to find a green restaurant, the directory is the first place they’ll look. We also do a lot to promote them other than that. We give them a window clean, a certificate, and lots of social media promo around the business.”

There is a growing trend of consumers wanting to buy from ‘green businesses’, with more than 70% of customers choosing to buy from businesses that are helping to protect the environment, and are even willing to pay more for their products. Donna elaborates: “there have been studies that show that ⅔ of all American consumers would pay more for a green brand, and worldwide, 80% of consumers would pay more at a green business. And that’s because our consumers care about the environment and they vote with their dollars. And also the workers, particularly the youth, care about working for a business that implements environmentally friendly practices.”

In 2019, greenUP! was awarded a $20,000 grant by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection’s Recycling Program to launch a Green Dining District in Carson City (above). The goal of the program is to engage with restaurants along Carson Street to provide environmental education and lend support to sustainable business practices, such as reducing single-use plastics and composting food waste. The U.S. The Department of Agriculture estimates that the restaurant industry alone generates about 11.4 million tons of food waste annually, at a cost of about $25 billion a year.

One of the programs that greenUP! urges members of the Green Dining District to get involved with is their reusable container pilot. GreenUP! developed a green box to-go program, the first of its kind in the state of Nevada, to give a long overdue option to environmentally conscious businesses and customers who wish to be a part of solutions to waste reduction.

It replaces single-use disposable containers used for to-go orders with reusables ones, closing the loop on our consumption and preventing unnecessary waste from entering our landfills and communities.

“It’s like a library subscription,” Walden said of the program’s procedures. “You go to a restaurant, buy a token, and they’ll give you a box. You can take it home, eat your food, rinse it. When you next visit one of the participating restaurants, you’ll put it in a drop box there. The restaurant will then sanitize it and put it back into circulation.” 

Currently, there are four restaurants in Carson City utilizing this program, and also both Squeeze In locations in Reno.

Great Full Gardens is one of the Reno restaurants participating in collaborative green efforts with greenUP! Photo provided by Great Full Gardens with permission to use.

“We’re looking to get more public support for this program,” Walden said. “The public just has to get used to it. It’s different, they haven’t heard of it. People think it is a good idea, they just need to take action. The concept of buying a token, and bringing the container back just isn’t currently a part of our culture. We have to start somewhere though.” Currently, the program is still in its pilot stage. However, Donna hopes that if more consumers and restaurants get on board and show interest, their goal would be to develop an app rather than using tangible tokens.

This year, greenUP! followed up on the Carson City initiative to get support from the Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce to bring a so-called Green Dining District to Reno. So far, there are four Green Dining labelled establishments in 10 locations: Buenos Grill, Great Basin Brewing Company, Great Full Gardens, and Squeeze In, with more Chamber member restaurants expected to join in the near future.

“We feel that the greater Reno community is ready to see improvement across the industry in terms of reducing food waste and plastic pollution,” Walden said in conclusion. “We desire to make Reno a more sustainable community and this green business effort contributes towards helping Nevada reach its climate action goals.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Gaia Osborne

Kendra Bertschy, Running for Judge and Doing Good in Her Brother's Memory

Kendra Bertschy, a local criminal public defense attorney running for Reno Justice Court, Department 2, remembers the decisive moment that propelled her into compassionate commitments, including helping foster kids and troubled youths, both as a volunteer and in her work.

She pauses though, before answering, during our outdoor interview, with the Truckee River flowing behind us, and pedestrians walking by.

“When I was in college, my brother was diagnosed with cancer and I think that's a very strong driving factor and influence in my life and has led to a lot of the decisions,” she said, pausing again. “Unfortunately, he did not survive his fight with cancer. And I think part of that and that feeling of hopelessness that I had when we were trying to get him into treatment and trying to find something that worked for him really helped shape who I became. I never want anyone to feel like they are hopeless, like what I felt and what my family felt.”

In the competitive primary in June, Bertschy got 44% over the vote, to Bruce Hahn’s nearly 38%.  Third place candidate Cotter Conway got 18% of the vote, leading to a Bertschy-Hahn face-off in November.

Hahn, has gotten endorsements from notable law enforcement figures in the community, current and recent, as well as since we did the interview, from Conway, and the far-right Franklin Project.  

“I think that with my background of having worked with victims of crime, as well as those accused, I have a broad range of support as well from different organizations,” Bertschy said when asked about some of the law enforcement endorsements for her opponent. “I do have some law enforcement support as well. More importantly, I have support from members all over this community. I've been involved in this community. I currently serve on several nonprofit boards. I've led nonprofit boards. I've worked as a teacher, as an instructor at the University of Nevada, Reno. And so I think that my broad range of support really goes to show that what I want to do is serve this community and that my goal with becoming a Justice of the Peace is to make sure that what we are doing is actually benefiting society, benefiting our citizens, protecting and enhancing community safety.”

Her opponent in November Bruce Hahn has gotten endorsements from traditional law enforcement figures, but Bertschy still finished first in the primary.

On her campaign website, Bertschy mentions another turning point in her outlook. “I once represented a veteran who struggled greatly after returning home from fighting overseas,” the website kendraforjustice indicates.  “He had gotten into some trouble, but the judge, in a move of great empathy, chose to give him a second chance by sending him to Veterans Court where he was connected with the services, supervision, and support he so desperately needed.”

Bertschy was impressed by the role the judge played in that case, making her want to be a justice of the peace herself. 

“We were able to take the issue to the Nevada Supreme court,” she remembers. “We won, we expanded access to veteran specialty courts for all veterans, but the way that the judge handled this case in particular really made me value that role and want to have that impact to want to make sure that we are providing our community members with what they need to be successful. And sometimes that is giving them the accountability, but having the approach necessary to instill that want and that desire to be successful for my client. That's why he was successful. He ran a completely perfect program and now has reunified with his family, has stable employment, has a stable job, has stable housing, all things that he didn't have before coming in contact with that judge.”

Bertschy started her legal career by representing children victims of crime in foster care cases. “So I have that unique background of having worked both with victims of crime and those accused of them,” she explained. “I’ve worked on both sides of civil issues for plaintiff's firms, defense firms, and I've worked on both sides of eviction issues. I've worked for legal aid who are often those who assist with tenant rights and I've worked for real estate. So I have a very balanced perspective that I can bring to that bench.”

Judges in Reno Justice Courts handle traffic cases, small claims, evictions, civil cases and the start of criminal proceedings. “It's sometimes the first opportunity that somebody comes into contact with the justice system, whether it's in a positive or negative manner,” Bertschy explained. “And so that's why it's so important to know who you are electing, because this is the court where it's most likely that you or your loved one, your child, your family, your neighbor, they may … come to court for a traffic ticket. They may come to court because of an eviction matter or whatever. The reason is it's important to make sure that the outcomes or that they felt like they had access to justice, that their voice was heard. And that's what I want to do. I want to make sure that everyone has equal access to justice in my courtroom, that they leave feeling like they were heard, they were valued. They were treated with dignity and respect, which is what all citizens deserve.”

Her extended work with foster kids having experienced trauma gives her the ability “to recognize what is going on with individuals in my courtroom, which I think is a very unique position,” she said. 

A runner and skier who loves nature, Bertschy wants to help shape a better Reno amid rapid change. 

“Some of the things that I absolutely love about this community, I love the different organizations that I've worked with,” she said. “We have so many incredibly smart, talented individuals who all want to make sure that Reno progresses in the best way possible. Some of us may disagree with what they think is best, but I do think that, the community members that I have met all have great intentions with trying to move forward towards progress. It's been exciting to meet the voters and to hear about their concerns.”

A grave concern consists of being the lowest state in terms of access to mental health treatment and the number of providers. “That's something that Reno Justice Court can help assist with is to help access with resources and to make sure that we are addressing our mental health needs through specialty courts, mental health courts, through sentencing options. And just making sure that that is something that is looked at because it needs to change.” 

Being a female candidate is important as well, Bertschy said, noting that in Nevada law schools, females are about half the students, but in Washoe County only 35% of attorneys are female. “There's something going on there,” she said. “And so we do still need to make sure that we are helping to mentor females in our legal profession to help guide them towards different opportunities like running for judge.” 

Our Town Reno reporting, Fall 2022

The Daylovers, Promoting Polyamory from their Reno Base

The Reno couple Jessica and Joe Daylover are in love with each other but their definition of love is not quite conventional. They have redefined their love, rather ‘remodeled’ it. 

The two first crossed paths in 2008 while being a part of the Reno theater community and got married to each other in 2013. 

“We were sort of monogamous by default because we didn't really know any other way. At the same time, it wasn't an explicitly closed relationship either. And all that changed around 2012, 2013,” Joe said of their gradual move further into polyamory. 

They say they were introduced to the concept by some friends three months prior to their marriage. 

“As soon as I heard the word polyamory, I just knew that that's who I always was,” said Jessica. Polyamory is typically defined as engaging in multiple romantic including sexual relationships, with the consent of all the people involved.

It was almost like she had rediscovered herself on hearing the word, she said, though her husband Joe was initially skeptical about it. 

“Suddenly my whole life made sense and how I had shown up in relationships previously made sense. And I was just like, ‘this is who I am. I knew instantly.’ And the more excited I got, the more fearful that Joe became. And that's a really common narrative,” she said during a recent Our Town Reno interview.

“So polyamory is a form of non-monogamy. Non-monogamy is a greater umbrella term under which things like swinging and open relationships or don't ask, don't tell, things like that fall but polyamory is the practice,” Jessica said, offering her own definition.

The couple also define it as a concept of “many loves” in which people can have the openness and willingness to seek multiple kinds of connections which can be anything from sexual, asexual to even just friendships. 

The couple says that they negotiated their way through dismantling “monogamous programming” and figuring out polyamory. 

Joe teaches English at UNR with a different last name and Jessica owns her own digital production company called Home Slice Productions. 

When the pandemic hit the entertainment industry in 2020, the Daylovers launched the Remodeled Love website and project which has a stated goal of expanding “the cultural narrative on healthy relationships, in order to include polyamory, non-partnered, asexual, open, and more. We do this through various multimedia and educational tools, such as comedy sketches, podcasts, memes, and articles,” they write on the front page of their website.

The couple has two sons aged four and one, and they also wrote a book called Polyamory and Parenthood. Their successful social media channels run the gamut from TikTok, with over 70-thousand followers, to a podcast and Instagram with over 20-thousand followers. Some of their TikToks have gone viral earning them being called “one of 10 polyamory experts you should be following” by Cosmopolitan in January 2022.

With their platforms they say they are trying to normalize all kinds of love relationships. They strongly believe that “each relationship becomes tailored to what two people want in it.”

Some of their time is spent responding online and in person to critics of their way of loving. Some of their own family members disagree with their choices.

“It just goes unacknowledged in my family and if it comes up, it is disregarded and shamed,” says Jessica about her family who are from the Midwest. 

“[My family] don't agree with it,” says Joe, who grew up as a Catholic on the East Coast. “I think some of them might try to understand a little bit more and try to be supportive, but it's still coming from this place of, it's weird and strange.” 

Their friends are, however, understanding. 

“Our inner circle is very emotionally intelligent and very evolved and progressive, so we were blessed that our immediate bubble landed more on the side of ‘we don't really get it and I wouldn't do it, but I can totally see that it's the right thing for you.’”

When it comes to their children the Daylovers believe that it will be an interesting situation because they will be growing up with “polyamory as a basis of their comparison not monogamy”. 

“We will have to explain monogamy to them,” Jessica says. 

Joe recently launched a support group called Dudes with Feelings, which is for polyamorous men who may have trouble confronting their emotions or working through them. Meanwhile on two recent social media videos, Jessica asks “Are the Monogs okay?” and “Is Polyamory a choice?”

Our Town Reno reporting by Kingkini Sengupta