Culver City Shares

When COVID hit and forced The Whole 9 Gallery to close, it opened the door to utilize our space to be of service to our community. We knew that many local citizens needed groceries — immediately. Within ten days, we organized a food distribution dubbed "Culver City Shares."

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Through Culver City Shares, we provided two bags of high quality groceries per family for 20 Wednesdays. About $250,000 in groceries and hygiene products were distributed through this completely volunteer run effort. We packed a lot of love into each bag that included good stuff like artisanal bread, cereal, pasta, canned goods and lots of fresh produce. We also included a weekly recipe that could be made with the contents of that week’s distribution.

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The success of this effort was due to the immediate and on-going collaboration from the local community who donated cash, groceries, 20,000+ grocery bags, fruit from their trees and all manpower necessary to power this program. Many receiving groceries also contributed their time and gave minimal cash each week, helping to show that everyone has something to give and that we can solve most problems if we come together as a community.

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This program inspired us to transform The Whole 9 Gallery into Gratitude Market where we sell artisanal wares, plus fresh bread and specialty foods from around the world.