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.”