What could be more Mendocino dreamin’ than a classic Volkswagen bus with a trailer carrying peace signs? But something now makes many residents turn away from this image of their only partly apocryphal past.
Christian Williams, 26, and Kitty Lyons, 30, were parked out front in that rig enjoying what they got from the Fort Bragg Food Bank with their toddler son Mason, her teenage daughter Lilly Lyons and their dogs, Jaweh and Pickles.
We see this group every year this time. They have made a life out of migrating between Utah (summers) and Arizona (winters) taking a wide swing out to the coast, which they love. They stop at the Food Bank every year, both giving gifts and getting good food.
“When we are in Utah, we get honks and a lot of people coming up and loving the VW,” Williams said.
“Here it’s funny, we are almost invisible.”
Her parents were old school hippies. His dad, a military man, loved to fix up Volkswagens. They call Utah home, leaving there every winter to hit the road in California to sell jewelry. I have now met Williams in 2010, 2013 and 2014 when they stopped at the Food Bank. Call them snowbirds or Internet travelers but if you meet them you won’t call them sinister or freeloaders. They bring stuff to give and trade and no, not that kind of stuff.
“If you lived in your car, you’d be home now,” one sign says.
The family actually sets up shop out in the woods. He has adapted the bus to include solar power. He has another bus back in Utah he is working on. He is proud of the roof rack that looks like a VW beetle on top of that rig.
They have a machine that cuts rocks and polishes jewelry, hunting rocks along the way and ending up at the Arizona Rock and Gem show. Lilly plays with our dog Reynard in the parking lot. All three family members who could talk seemed to be enjoying the road and said they plan to stick to the lifestyle as long as possible.
Preconceptions
The VW bus scene reminded me of how we often read our biases into what we see. When I wrote about some other travelers a few years ago, a know-it-all friend of mine said “don’t you know what they are really doing?”
These kind of presumptive statements are sadly common and are simply prejudices by another name. Why judge first? You can change your world if you offer grace in place of judgment. It’s easy to assume bad things about people, but not in line with the facts I have witnessed. Watching the Food Bank all these years I’ve seen people come and go, but preconceived notions often stay.
Being a business next-door neighbor to and seasonal biographer of the Food Bank has exposed my own prejudices at times. Some people do have no consideration, but the vast majority of clients are very polite. The temptation is to extrapolate when my car is blocked in. I have also learned deep lessons about grace, chiefly that giving is great but both giving and getting is divine. I get food and I give all I can and it’s more powerful than I ever would have thought.
Another great thing is how being around people removes all fear that we might have. Back when the original hippies were trippin’ around the country in their VW busses, there really seemed to be something “blowing in the wind.” Today, society is so much faster, so much less intimate and so much more afraid. I would encourage people to come down and share the humanity with me and lose your fears too.
Alise Sinclair of Albion did just that. She read about the Food Bank in the newspapers’ Season of Sharing fund drive series and came down to work the day before Thanksgiving. She was impressed by everyone she met — clients, staff and the volunteers who surrounded her.
“This place is wonderful. So well organized, it’s amazing.”
One of the worst biases out there, and one of the most common is that there is something embarrassing about needing and taking food. I’ve seen young couples and families get just the little help they need to keep them on track. I’ve featured charming moms and children over the years. Many are doing much better now and come back to give to others.
I’ve been trying to get a friend of mine to come to the Food Bank but up until Friday he was just too proud. I know he is hungry, has a huge credit card debt and works less than 20 hours a week. He grew up here and somehow couldn’t face his need.
His dog was hungry and itching too. So he finally came, reluctant, trying to avoid me but there he was in line with many others, braving icy rain and cold. Even the most prejudiced of people usually love children and animals. The Food Bank does great for both.
Helping animals
Animals, living in the present, happy, without prejudice give us humans the right idea.
Rich or poor, many people love their pets more than themselves. There are some people at the Fort Bragg Food Bank who have no houses, many who have no car or who drive a car that barely runs. But almost everybody seems to have a dog or cat.
These animals are often better cared for than the car, and better fed than the person themselves. Like my still-nameless friend, people who never came to the Food Bank otherwise came to relieve Fido’s itch or Fifi’s hunger.
Homeless men and women very often pair with dogs, making a common sight on Fort Bragg streets.
These pairs are inseparable, making for many very happy dogs, who get to spend all day “camping” with their homeless master. Some dogs are literally lifesaving for their owners, keeping them warm, even presenting a friendly face when the boss isn’t so friendly.
“Approximately 15 to 20 percent of our clients are homeless,” said Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy. “Yes, we still provide camping bags designed for folks without access to refrigeration, a cook stove or kitchen utensils. We also supply, upon request, a tiny little military P-38 can opener that many people keep in their pocket or on a string around their neck.”
The Eileen Hawthorne Fund, Second Chance Rescue and the Mendocino Coast Humane Society help pets in need in many ways.
Second Chance, the key program for feeding the Fort Bragg Food Bank’s four-legged clients, has been bringing pet food to the Food Bank since the 1990s, when Second Chance was located in Hayward.
In addition to dog food, Second Chance gives coats for dogs, leashes, collars, dog treats, vaccines, flea and tick treatments and more.
Second Chance was founded by Jeanne Gocker and Steve Sapontzis, author of “Morals, Reason, and Animals,” in 1985. The organization is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit, public-benefit, 501 (c)(3) charity.
Season of Sharing
Since the 1996 holiday season, the Fort Bragg Advocate-News and The Mendocino Beacon have raised $322,208 for the Food Bank through the Season of Sharing fund drive. Since 1999, the nonprofit Community Foundation of Mendocino County has administered the drive as a courtesy to the newspapers, which means that every penny donated to the Season of Sharing goes directly to the Food Bank.
“There are many dozens of nonprofit organizations in our area, all very worthy of support, but the Food Bank addresses the most basic problem facing hundreds of individuals and families — hunger,” said Publisher Sharon DiMauro. “The goal is to give the Food Bank money it can use year-round, not just during the holidays. It doesn’t matter a bit whether a person contributes through our fundraiser or directly to the Food Bank, the main thing is to contribute — and if you’re able, to give year-round.”
How to donate
• By check: Make check payable to the Community Foundation of Mendocino County (CFMC) and mail or deliver to the Advocate-News, 450 N. Franklin St., Fort Bragg 95437.
• By credit card: Pay via CFMC’s website, www.communityfound.org, and click on the Season of Sharing image.
The names of donors who contribute through the newspapers will be printed each week, unless they ask to remain anonymous. The drive runs through Dec. 31.
The total raised so far is $575, thanks to this week’s donors: Ben and Nancy Housel, Winston and Rebecca Bowen, In Memory of Fred and Nonie Grass, Ronald and Susan Munson, Deborah Smith and David and Laura Welter.
If you have any questions, please call the newspaper at 707-964-5642.
