From buying ingredients to preparing burritos and then passing them out on the streets of Reno, Nicola Ader, a five time UNR All-American track student athlete spends much of her weekends giving back, while getting her university degree and pursuing high level training. Before the 2020 college track and field was shut down due to the pandemic, Ader had won gold in the high jump at the Mountain West Championship, qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championship in the high jump, and broke UNR’s school record in the 60m hurdles.
From Southern Germany to Reno with Purpose
Born in a small town in southern Germany about three hours west of Munich, Ader is studying here in Reno on an athletic scholarship. Hoping to graduate this fall with a degree in Criminal Justice, she spent the summer training with lofty aspirations for her already well decorated track and field career. The COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to athletic competitions last Spring and more records and awards, but not to Ader’s drive. Unable to compete or train on campus anymore, Ader came up with a more flexible schedule which has also given her the time to volunteer with the ongoing Reno Burrito Project, handing out healthy meals on Sundays to our neighbors in need in the downtown corridor.
“I really try to make sure that I have at least Sunday off,” Ader said during a recent interview on campus. She says she struggled to find a purpose here as a foreign student. Beyond track and field, she wanted to find the right experience, she said, and was “always kind of passively waiting for an opportunity.” Then through her church, she met another UNR student, Ghanaian Blaize Akanaab Abuntori, and along with her roommate, she began volunteering with the Reno Burrito Project, which now also hands out hygiene kits as well as books.
“I could have reached out to more places and started helping the community earlier.” Ader says she wanted it to feel she was making an impact with the community and that there was a purpose behind her giving back, which she says she found with the Reno Burrito Project.
From the Kitchen to the Heat and Smoke Outside
The Reno Burrito Project now has nearly 40 active members and is currently seeking more donations. The group recently began a hygiene kit program focused on providing sanitary wipes and soap to area residents without stable shelter. Each week, the volunteer collective makes between 100 and 200 burritos. With a growing social media presence they are hopeful for more donations and in turn, more burritos and hygiene kits to pass out.
On a recent weekend, Nicola and two other members were efficiently rolling burritos in her kitchen, which serves as one of two used by the collective. Another volunteer was warming tortillas and placing them in front of each person on a stack of precut sheets of foil. Then the tortilla was filled with scoops of beans, meat, and rice. Next the tortilla was quickly folded and rolled up along with the tin foil. It was the epitome of an assembly line.
Afterward came the distribution. Ader unabashedly passed out burritos and water, stopping to talk to people living on the streets. She says she loves this part, the engagement, the learning more about the people and what brought them there. “I did something good. Just understanding the community and the entire situation of society,” she said. We passed through the old bus station and headed towards the Truckee river.
As we wandered the streets the cooler’s wheels grinded on the sidewalk and became lighter in hand. It was not as hot as previous Sundays but the smoke form wildfires was thick.
“It’s a lot of work and definitely a busy day, but at the end of the day, you know exactly what you did,” Ader said of the feeling of giving back.
Learning Through Volunteering, and Dreaming of Athletic Highs
Ader says she has learned a lot through her time volunteering, and that her perceptions of people living on the streets have changed. “When you see a homeless person having a dog, they cannot provide for their own life, why do they have a dog?” Ader confessed of initially thinking.
She was quick to call herself out and realized that dogs are social animals and many homeless come to rely on them for companionship. She understands the stress homelessness places on a person’s mental health. “So having a dog can even help you to escape those mental issues.” She has learned that it is important to force yourself to hold back judgement, to avoid any inherent biases, because you never know the individual’s story.
As far as her own personal journey, Ader has been involved with track and field for over 15 years. She remembers getting involved around the age of six and never looking back. She has set her mind to reach the top of the sport: the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo and the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. These will be difficult to qualify for, but she has a lot of events to choose from.
“I love and prioritize the long jump, high jump, and 100 meters hurdles,” Ader said of her versatility. She typically competes in seven events all together, adding the shot put, the javelin, the 100 meter hurdles, the 200 meter, and 800 meter to her long list.
“Having an additional year increased, actually, my chances,” Ader said of the postponed Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled for the 2020 summer but pushed back due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, she is back in school, training as hard as ever despite the smoke, increased COVID-19 cases on campus and the lack of current competitions, and handing out burritos on Sundays.
Reporting and Photography by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno