We were lucky to catch up with Kristen Cox recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kristen, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Almost every job I’ve ever done was somehow related to helping other people who were struggling more than I was. I grew up in an abusive home and married an abusive man, so injustice is something I’ve always fought hard against. Keeping my children fed and a roof over their head was a major challenge at times due to the financial abuse of both my family of origin and my husband. There was a lot of substance abuse in both families, so I worked with substance abusers. The majority of whom were also abused women. We worked on self esteem, assertiveness, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the rooms of al anon listening to other family members who have been dealing with the disease of substance abuse in their own families and friends. I lost a mother in law, an uncle and a sister to substance abuse. When I got my masters degree in psychology, I read studies that showed that people become substance abusers because they are trying to escape their reality. This is not a new concept but, what also learned was that if we are given a safe and positive reality with stimulation, love, attention, etc., people and animals do not choose to escape emotionally and the substance abuse disappears. I also worked with children in foster care situations who were often victims of abuse, neglect and substance abusing parents, themselves. Additionally, I have run large political campaigns with the hopes of making change within the system itself, but finally, upon seeing how the system rarely addresses the real needs of the most marginalized and vulnerable communities, I decided to see what I could do about addressing those problems myself directly. We started by going to Standing Rock twice to fight against polluting the drinking water of native Americans/indigenous people and supported hurricane victims twice (Katrina and Harvey) by bringing supplies and emotional support. These experiences gave me a lot of the organizing and networking skills that would be needed when I started LBCT. Eventually, a group of activists and I decided that our own community had enough problems and that we wanted to do something about the problems of the most vulnerable with a focus on dignity and self empowerment. Our original steps were to provide healthy food, clothing and hygiene products, as a mutual aid so that recipients could participate in their own life improvements and gain self esteem from that participation. So we went to low income parks and neighborhoods in food deserts and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Before covid, we were going to 8 parks and averaging 100 people per park. Just this past weekend we gave out 6 portable showers to the “mayors” of several encampments so that people can feel good about their appearance and odor and that way, they’re able to get more positive feedback and be “seen” by the community. When we started going to the parks, we were often told that we were the only people who would actually look them in the eyes all week, or have a conversation and that the dehumanization was contributing to their substance abuse. Quite a few stopped abusing when we started coming and talking with them. We knew their names and their life stories and had meaningful conversations every week. They told us that it was amazing to feel like someone really cared about them and their challenges.
We were also building a garden per month but have switched our focus from backyard gardens to gardens in housing projects or shelters with an emphasis on nutrition, cooking and food preservation. Eventually, we got a bus and a warehouse and expanded our efforts to include 4 pantries per week and when covid hit we went from about 40 homebound deliveries/week to roughly 1000. Since then we were able to pare back the homebound deliveries to about 500 individuals per week. The only criteria for receiving food and sometimes hygiene products in those deliveries is the inability to come to the pantry yourself. We also do bulk deliveries to very low income senior residences, tiny home communities, veterans’ facilities, transitional housing in motels, sober living homes and much more. Food, feeling clean and cared for, makes a huge difference in people’s lives. We say “Food is freedom” because it lowers anxiety when you know that you or your kids will eat, it puts more money in your pockets, and that has a wide range of positive results for the community. It raises self esteem which is really the bottom line for all mental health. Improved self esteem/decreased anxiety lowers domestic violence, crime in general, pollution, suicide, disease, etc, , it also improves academic scores, work performance, stability in the home and housing situation, just because somebody cares enough to pay attention and help when someone is at their lowest point.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I think I covered this in question 1
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Also covered in question one but I would say for advice that people should try to do something they love but that also helps their community. Its a great way to make quality friends and it makes life better for everybody.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I want to answer 2 questions in this section. We are always looking for partners and ways to collaborate. Please email lbcommunitytable@gmail.com, if you’re interested. But also, our biggest challenge is keeping up with the increasing demand/need. This means we need more financial, volunteer and food resources. Homelessness went up 11% last year across the US after the covid moritoriums were ended. Most of us know that California has the highest rate of homelessness so I’m sure that increase is even higher here. We can certainly see that. In the meantime, many of the regional food banks have significantly decreased supply for us. There are a number of reasons for that but it basically goes back to our system not being intended to work for the people who are struggling the most. Most of the country is just a few paychecks away from finding themselves in a similar situation. That is what I pay my taxes for, not wars to take the resources of other countries. If you’re interested in getting involved as a volunteer, please email lbctvolunteers@gmail.com. Thanks!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.longbeachcommunitytable.com
- Instagram: @lbcommunitytable
- Facebook: Long Beach Community Table, Long Beach Community Table Team, Long Beach Community Table Gardens
- Twitter: @lbcommunitytabl
- Youtube: longbeachcommunitytable9848
- Other: LBCommunitytable@gmail.com – you can email to get on our mailing list too!
