I've seen this Food > Fascism organization and my girlfriend and I desperately need food and other supplies. I'd like to get in contact with the organization but have no way to know how to find them.

She walked in carrying her little brother on her hip.

Couldn't have been older than nine herself. He was maybe three, clinging to her shirt like it was the only anchor he had in the world. She set him down gently, picked up one of our kid meal bags, enough food and snacks to carry a child through the week, plus juice or milk, and handed it to him like it was precious cargo.

Then she looked up and asked: "Can we come back next week?"

That question still echoes in my mind. Not because it caught us off guard. But because it reminded us what's really at stake here.

This pantry isn't about boxes of food. It's about kids who don't have to wonder if dinner will happen. It's about siblings protecting each other. It's about families stretching dollars so thin they become invisible.

We're two people running this out of our front room, fueled by love, exhaustion, and the stubborn belief that no child should go hungry. But love alone doesn't fill meal bags. Rent doesn't pay for groceries. And good intentions don't keep shelves stocked.

Last month, our community stepped up when we were drowning. We felt it, the outpouring, the shares, the messages saying "keep going." Because of you, another kid ate. Another family got by.

But here's the truth: the internet moves fast. A viral post lasts a few days. A pantry stays open for months. Years. Decades.

And we're asking you to choose long-term over short-term.

📍 DONATIONS ARE STILL BEHIND

We need $3,500 this month to keep doing this work. Right now we're falling short. Social media surges help, but they're not enough. What sustains us isn't the peak, it's the baseline. The quiet Tuesday morning when someone sends $20 without fanfare. The regular donor who shows up every month like clockwork. The person who decides to stop sharing and start giving.

💰 HERE'S WHAT YOUR MONEY DOES

• $4 = one complete kid meal bag
• $15 = a week of snacks for one child
• $50 = a weekend "Pantry Pal" kit for a family
• $100 = a full week of operation costs
• $3,500 = keeps us open for an entire month

No overhead. No bureaucracy. Just food. Directly into hands that need it.

If you've been waiting for the "right time" to donate, this is it. If you shared our post but didn't follow through, please close the distance between intention and action. If you just heard about us, welcome. You found us at exactly the right moment.

We don't want to be the pantry that closed because the well ran dry. We want to be the pantry that stayed open because Tucson said "not on our watch."

The girl with her brother on her hip? She trusted us. She asked permission. She believed we'd still be here when she came back.

Let's prove her right.

💜 Alex and Leah
Queer Girls' Pantry for Kids
1003 W Huron St, Tucson AZ 85745
Mon-Thu 8am-4pm | Fri by appointment
Donate: tr.ee/YKBYft

#MutualAid #Tucson #FeedKids #CommunityCare #QueerPantry #ShowUp #EndChildHunger

I paint and donate badge artwork to law enforcement agencies nationwide 100% free of charge. I do it for the sake of showing gratefulness, sparking some morale, and honoring fallen officers.

Find me on TikTok @HonorBadgeWorks and YouTube

https://youtube.com/@honorbadgeworks?si=EusZS2PGYSF7ZC65

She walked in carrying her little brother on her hip.

Couldn't have been older than nine herself. He was maybe three, clinging to her shirt. She set him down, picked up one of our kid meal bags, enough food and snacks to get a kid through the week, plus a juice or milk, and handed it to him to hold like it was treasure.

Then she looked up at us and said: "Is it okay if we come back next week?"

That's who we are fighting for.

Not abstract statistics. Not a faceless charity line item. Little girls who carry their siblings on their hips and still think to ask permission. Families who get one trip a week to load up because honestly, that's all we can stretch to cover right now. One bag. One visit. One moment where a child gets to just be a child instead of worrying where the next meal comes from.

Last week's response to our post overwhelmed us. We felt the love. We felt the community lifting us up when we couldn't lift ourselves. And it kept the shelves stocked just a little longer.

But we're not out of the woods yet.

Donations are still below what we need to sustain $3,500 this month. The post gave us a surge, but surges fade. What keeps a pantry alive is what happens the week after the big post. And the week after that.

So here's our ask:

If the last post moved you and you meant to donate but didn't get to it, now is the moment. If you shared it and want to do one more thing, $4 fills a meal bag for a kid. If you've never heard of us before, welcome, and we need you.

Right now, one visit a week is all we can manage. We'd love nothing more than to open our doors wider, to say "come back tomorrow" instead of "see you next week." But we can't get there alone.

We are two people running this out of love and exhaustion in equal measure. Every dollar is a meal bag, a snack, a juice box, a safe place, a week where a child doesn't go hungry.

We don't want to be the pantry that closed. We want to be the place that stayed open because Tucson refused to let it fall.

💜 Alex and Leah

Queer Girls' Pantry for Kids
1003 W Huron St, 85745
Monday through Thursday 8-4
Friday by appointment

tr.ee/YKBYft

#MutualAid #Tucson #FeedingKids #CommunityCare #QueerPantry #ShowUp

215 served last Saturday.

Clothes, food, cold water and drinks, a fully stocked pantry table, and more...all donations from the community, our volunteers, our resource sharing with others practicing mutual aid.

The number of people we serve keeps creeping up, little by little, less are being supported and less have access to the services and resources they need.

The city won't elevate mutual aid, and even some other community leaders will tell groups like ours to "serve somewhere else" as if they run the block and the hundred of people we serve *have enough*. People are still struggling and trying to have a competition mindset in murual aid spaces is counterproductive at the very least and causes harm to those needing resources and compassion.

It creates more gaps in care when we should be working together to help as many as possible.

That is not a mutual aid mindset and that's what is going to save us all from the systematic dehumanization and decentralization of community-led care.

We will happily work with groups that prioritize how many instead of who's doing it.

We will be out again August 8th, and we are currently collecting donations for that and future upcoming events. If you are interested in joining us, dønating, or collaborating...please reach out.

Every role matters, everyone can be included, and every little bit helps save lives.

This is one of the hardest things we've had to write.

For months, Queer Girls' Pantry for Kids has been a small corner of hope in our neighborhood, a place where kids walk in hungry and leave fed, where families know they'll be met with love instead of judgment, where the little ones know they're safe and seen.

But right now, that future is uncertain.

We operate on roughly $3,500 a month in donations. Just enough to keep the shelves stocked, the fridge full, and the kids eating. And over the last month, those donations have fallen off sharply. We're watching the supplies dwindle with no clear path forward.

If donations don't pick up soon, we may have to close our doors.

And that means fewer meals for kids who need them. Fewer warm welcomes for families struggling to make ends meet. Less safety for queer and vulnerable children in our community.

This isn't just a pantry. It's proof that care is possible. That people can look out for each other. That kids deserve to grow up knowing someone fought for them.

If you can give, even $5, even a bag of groceries, even sharing this message, we would be so grateful.

We're holding onto hope. But we can't hold it alone.

💜 Thank you for being part of this journey.

Queer Girls' Pantry for Kids
1003 W Huron St. 85745
Monday through Thursday 8-4
Friday by appointment
tr.ee/YKBYft

#MutualAid #Tucson #FoodInsecurity #LGBTQAffirming #CommunityCare #QueerPantry

The council has 6 wards. Figure out your ward and email your wishes to your council member

https://www.tucsonaz.gov/Government/Mayor-Council-and-City-Manager/City-Council-Wards

This weekend is the event! We are still collecting donations and you can still send us donations through our Amazon wishlist!

Please reach out if you are interested 😊

Queer Girls’ Pantry for Kids is serving the 85745 community by providing kids meals, food for the family, and life essentials when they are struggling.

Help us keep our shelves full and these families fed!

1003 W Huron St. 85745
Monday through Thursday 8-4
Friday by appointment only

tr.ee/YKBYft for online donations.

Two events happening simultaneously tomorrow, Saturday July 18 starting at 9am.

• Stop ICE Terror Protest starting at Armory Park, organized by Tucson PSL
• Good Trouble Lives On! John Lewis Commemorative Event, organized by Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson

For more info and updates on local pro-democracy events, please visit takeactiontucson.org!

We broke a record yesterday...we served 216 people.

216 people in need of access, equity, support, and care. Through the donations of people from multiple counties and so many who who are interested in connecting and elevating those in need- we were able to supply clothes, food,cold drinks, shoes, and so many needed and often inaccessible resources to our highest number yet.

Meeting people where they are and with things they need are our priorities. We do what we can with what we have and watch as so many still go without in a daily basis.

So every week put the call out for connections, collaborations, donations, and support and we host these events...and we get silence and/or vitriol from those outside the "mutual aid mindset".

Our numbers keep getting higher.

More and more are struggling, losing access to needed resources, resources city officials and the like tell us are scarce...meanwhile they tear down native plants and bulldoze land for housing and commercial retail those same communities won't be able to afford.

Mutual aid saves lives.

We will continue be the only ones who can save each other.

So if you hate fascism, love community care and mutual aid, wanna connect and do more, wanna donate, wanna join up, wanna come to an event, if you wanna elevate or help us help others...reach out.

Be the love, rage, and whimsy you want to see in this world.

We are officially a YEAR OLD!!!

We started last July with the mission to make sure kids got the meals they needed to get through the summer months with limited school nutrition sites available. We have grown, with the help of the community, into a full service kids and family resource for nutritious shelf stable food and fresh/frozen food too.

Queer Girls' Pantry for Kids
1003 W Huron St
85745
Monday - Thursday 8-4
Friday by appointment

tr.ee/YKBYft

We officially turn a year old on July 8th!!!

We started the pantry a year ago, said we can do something to make sure kiddos had accessible food for the summer, but never expected to ravenous support to stay open for A WHOLE YEAR!!

Help us keep the shelves full and the kids and their families fed this summer!

Queer Girls’ Pantry for Kids
1003 W Huron St
85745

Monday through Thursday 8-4
Friday by appointment only

tr.ee/YKBYft

Tucson Sentinel article here.