Our invisible work
If you follow The Preservery Foundation already, you may have noticed that the folks we serve are almost wholly absent from our social media content. The work we do in delivering hot, wholesome meals directly to people experiencing homelessness has, until now, been almost invisible except to those we serve and those who have volunteered with us. Now, with the help of the team at Green Spaces, we are able to tell this side of our story in a visual way that we are really excited to share with our community.
A guest receives two Giving Meals against the backdrop of a tent encampment
When Obe and I sold our restaurant in September of 2022, we knew that we wanted to continue working in Five Points within the RiNo Art District. Not only have we put down some deep roots in this community over the seven years we operated our business, but we also fell in love with the vibrancy and energy of the neighborhood, with its buildings covered in colorful murals and graffiti, offering a wide diversity of local restaurants, stores and residences, and the juxtaposition of new and old resulting in both timely conflicts and beautiful collaborations.
Most importantly, it is the close proximity to the folks whom we serve each week that makes Five Points the perfect home base for The Preservery Foundation. Being in this neighborhood and observing on a daily basis the growing number of folks who are subjected to the perils of living without shelter is what got us started in this work of hunger relief in the first place.
So, when we handed in the keys to the old restaurant space, we immediately went down the street and signed up for a desk at Green Spaces. We love the people and vibe at this eco-conscious co-working space and it’s only a block away from Nocturne, whose kitchen is where we do all our cooking. It’s located in what truly feels like the bustling center of RiNo, just a stone’s throw away from Central Market and so many other businesses that we’ve come to know, love and frequently support.
Whitney and Obe Ariss, posing inside the verdant Green Spaces
The folks at Green Spaces have a focus on building community, too, and we recently had the opportunity to work with their incredibly talented media director, Divine Ramazani, on a project that was shining the spotlight on businesses operating within the co-working space. When Divine approached us about shooting footage, we invited her to come to Nocturne’s kitchen while we cook our Giving Meals, but she also suggested coming out into the field with us while we distribute Giving Meals. I was excited at the prospect, but unsure how we were going to pull it off. How can we show people what we do without capturing images that would potentially identify and exploit our guests?
Obe and I decided, back when we first started this venture, that through The Preservery Foundation we would always do our best to preserve the dignity and humanity of the guests we serve and, of course, do them no harm. To us, that meant strictly no pictures or video. We didn’t want folks to think they had to consent to be photographed to be able to receive our services and we definitely didn’t want to objectify them, especially in such a vulnerable circumstance.
We settled on a compromise - Divine would only take close-up shots of people’s hands but would be careful to not show faces, street names, or anything else that could potentially reveal someone’s identity.
Another guest receives a stack of Giving Meals for himself and his tent mates
The result is a warm, intimate portrayal of our weekly efforts to feed people in need. You can see just a tiny sliver of the conditions in which our guests are living and the intense need for sustenance which we are trying to address. Divine’s close-up shots portray the way each Giving Meal hand-off represents real, personal contact. We’ve touched a lot of folks through our direct-delivery meal service, both literally and figuratively, and her footage captures that so beautifully.
It doesn’t always feel beautiful, what we do. When you get up close and personal with the most disenfranchised people in your community, you see firsthand what ugliness is imposed on them. They are living in unsafe, unsanitary and inhumane conditions and it breaks our hearts over and over again each week. As a society we even know how to virtually solve this problem, because nobody should have to live like this, but only a handful of cities in America have done what it takes to help every human find shelter.
It never ceases to amaze me how much can be gained from working with other like-minded people in our community. We are so grateful to be able to work in Green Spaces with people like Divine who can help us shed new light on the issue of homelessness and tell our story in a way that helps people connect to the community we serve. Our goal is to provide hunger relief, but we also hope to connect more and more of the greater Denver community to the cause of serving and uplifting our neighbors who need it most. Perhaps if more people see firsthand how great the need is, they will be willing to help.
Whitney, Obe and their friend & volunteer, Cory, stopping for a quick photo before handing out Giving Meals
To see more videos shot by Divine, visit our Instagram for our latest reel and definitely follow her @vineramazani to see more of her amazing work.
To volunteer with The Preservery Foundation, e-mail me at whitney@thepreserveryfoundation.org or send a DM with your e-mail via instagram.
To donate, visit our donation page here.
