We spent the day exploring Olympia before meeting with Beau, a member of the Emma Goldman Youth & Homeless Outreach Project on a beautiful beach outside town. We sat down on some logs and talked while the tide rose and the sun set. Beau introduced us to EGYHOP, named after Emma Goldman, a radical anarchist activist and writer. The organization was started in Olympia about 16 years ago by a community member named Long Hair Dave. Dave was concerned about the welfare of the large community of people who live on the streets of downtown Olympia, so he started EGYHOP as a way to provide services directly to these people during the night. Today, EGYHOP is comprised of a non-hierarchical group of volunteers who distribute donated supplies, food, and other services to Olympia’s unhoused and low-income populations.
When we met with Beau, he had been volunteering with EGYHOP for several years and had just accepted a job at a local homeless shelter which EGYHOP partners with. Beau is a Washington native and attended undergrad at nearby Evergreen College. After graduating, he looked for a way to get involved and joined the local chapter of Food Not Bombs. Due to the chapter’s disorganization at the time, he moved on and volunteered at a local Baptist church, but disagreed with the church’s policy of only feeding people who attended their services. EGYHOP turned out to be the perfect fit, since it not only provides services and resources directly to the people who need them, but also takes a very caring and humanizing attitude missing from many charitable organizations which benefit homeless people.
In addition to donations of food, clothes, blankets, and first aid supplies, EGYHOP also runs a syringe exchange and provides clean needles to users in order to protect their safety and reduce the spread of diseases. All of these are distributed by EGYHOP volunteers on nightly bike shifts in downtown Olympia. They carry all their supplies in trailers on their bikes. The safety and wellbeing of the populations they serve are strong priorities for EGYHOP. In addition to facilitating a clean needle exchange program, volunteers also carry Narcan, a drug that reverses opiate overdose and can help save the lives of opiate users. They often hang out with the people they serve while on their shifts, to provide people with companionship and a familiar, friendly face to talk to. In winter they also partner with other organizations to run a warming center program, which offers shelter from winter weather and a place to distribute supplies.
Beau expressed the importance of EGYHOP’s work by pointing out the increasing gentrification that is happening in Olympia. “Housing prices are rising, and people are getting pushed out.” He also cited anti-homeless sentiment as an issue in the community. In response to EGYHOP’s program providing food to people on the street, some business owners began to complain of finding trash or food remains on the sidewalk in front of their streets. EGYHOP compromised with business owners, promising to make sure the streets remained clean while they distributed food, but Beau found this particular complaint to be fueled more by a general anti-homeless sentiment among local business owners than a legitimate concern. Beau spoke of the “bougefication” of downtown Olympia as force that is driving this sentiment as property values in the area increase.
Despite these issues, Beau told us his favorite mode of organizing is very local. He doesn’t watch the news and finds himself drawn away from large-scale theorizing and big, systemic goals. Instead, filling an immediate need in the community of Olympia helps him maintain hope and motivation to keep working towards positive impacts. In addition to Olympia’s unhoused and low-income populations, Beau cited queer dance parties and pulling tarot cards with friends as main interests. He also creates handmade fanny packs for his friends.
One takeaway from EGYHOP that gave us hope was the fact that the organization has been so long-lived, despite being completely grassroots funded and volunteer-run. They are able to leverage their partnerships with other organizations and secure donated supplies from the community to make their important work happen. If they are in need of funds, they throw a house show fundraiser. EGYHOP’s efforts to provide the homeless people of Olympia with support and resources despite encroaching gentrification serve as a really good example of a powerful yet manageable way to affect change in a community. We were so inspired by this project and so glad we got to interview them!!
You can visit EGYHOP’s website or find them on Facebook to learn more about them. Their website includes a wishlist of various supplies you can donate, as well as a way to donate money directly. If you are in or near the Olympia area, definitely check them out! You can see them in action on their bike shifts, every evening downtown at 6 pm.