Helping Out: Culver City Shares
The coronavirus is so scary, so strange, and so ubiquitous that for me, like many others, early-on feelings of panic gave way to feelings of helplessness. Desperate for ways to somehow feel a sense of control in my life, I posted a sign in my apartment complex, with its share of elderly people who live alone, advertising that I would grocery shop for whoever needed it. The sign was up less than five minutes, the amount of time it took for the building supervisor to tell me it needed to come down and for our ensuing argument. I called the CEO of Decron Properties and I put my story on Facebook, but my complaints fell on deaf ears and I once again felt defeated.
Sympathetic friends began forwarding me emails asking for volunteers. Helping me help. Later that week, a mass email requested a few specific grocery items and clean grocery bags. Its source was opaque, having been forwarded so many times. The only context was a first name and an address. Skeptical, but not knowing what else to do, I hopped on my bike and brought a bunch of clean grocery bags that I had lying around to this address. And there, I met Lisa Schultz, a gallery owner, who had transformed her closed-for-Covid gallery space into a fresh food pantry for those in need. Not only did she need clean grocery bags, she needed a logo, and I needed to feel something other than panic. So I volunteered my skills to this incredible organization—one that popped up in one week, giving fresh food to 100-200 families per week using donations, volunteers, and Lisa’s network and community organizing skills.
I can’t change the decisions that our country’s leadership has made, and I can’t make ventilators or ICU beds or N-95 masks. I can’t give people health insurance. I can’t even grocery shop for people in my own building. But I can make a damn logo. So I did.
It was important that the logo communicate that the donated food was fresh and healthy. The client also wanted the logo to feel respectful and positive without being too charity-like.
The logo can be printed as one color or reversed out as necessary.
Spot illustrations, just for fun
One of my favorite things about Culver City Shares is that each grocery bag is prepared with a recipe card and a heart painted on the side, which is just dang cute. Here’s a video showing what they do: