History of The Heart Drive
It started with tamales.
As the 2019 holiday season approached, we began making tamales to sell and gift to family, friends and any willing takers. We had the idea to make additional tamales for the local unhoused community of Oakland and proceeded to purchase additional materials. Thrilled with our idea, we began to share it on social media and decided to start a fundraiser to purchase even more. The fundraiser quickly took off and we ended up with more funds than time or manpower to make that many tamales. We called in volunteers from our personal networks and got to work. We used the additional funds to create small care packages to hand out in conjunction with the tamales, and so began the Stayin' Alive Tamale Drive.
We continued to expand on our project incorporating haircuts in our February 2020 Haircuts for the Heart campaign at Lafayette Square Park. Barbers from across the Bay Area volunteered to offer free haircuts to those in need. Our friends at HMB Crab donated a propane grill and Comestible Catering came through to BBQ for all attendees. We played music, danced, and raffled off tents and sleeping bags amongst the community and had a damn good time doing it!
In December 2020 we launched our next drive called Baby, it's Cold Outside: Holiday Heart Drive where Comestible Catering donated their commercial kitchen, Margarita's Latino Foodie volunteered their time and expertise in the kitchen, and Hop Dogma Brewery and the Old Princeton Landing collected clothing donations to help us do it bigger and better. Musicians and artists donated content for a telethon-style virtual concert where we collected over $5k in donations. We were able to provide 200 hot plates of food and provide warm clothes, tents, sleeping bags and fully loaded care packages to hundreds of people in need.
In August of 2021 we lost our co-founder Tri Garcia. This was a huge blow to the community but we continue to move forward in his honor. We have learned so much through this experience. It hasn't always been easy but it has been rewarding at every step of the way. We truly thank everybody who has participated, contributed, volunteered, shared, or followed our events so far and we aim to have an even higher impact as the years progress.
Here are some videos and photos cataloging our journey so far.
COASTSIDE RAMP JAM III - AUGUST 19th
ALAS x The Heart Drive Present: Coastside Ramp Jam III
This free, all-ages event was held on August 19th at the mini-ramp at Granada Community Park. The event featured a skate competition, live music, food trucks, and local vendors. Our goal was to create a casual, authentic event where we could celebrate young people skateboarding and enjoying themselves in a healthy way while feeling embraced and seen by the community.
Proceeds went to arts programs for local youths provided by ALAS. We threw two of these events last year and were able to help sponsor a Summer program and a Hip Hop dance class. This year we will continue offering unique and relevant programs that engage young people and support them as they express themselves creatively.
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