Nicole Huguenin

Pictured: Nicole Huguenin Photographer: Cadence Clare Feeley — Pictured: Nicole Huguenin
Photographer: Cadence Clare Feeley

“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."

- Albert Camus

Nicole is a generosity entrepreneur and community organizer. She is involved in many efforts that liberate, regenerate, and recalibrate how we bring more good into the world. Her projects include Aloha Alliances, Dream Together Crew, Walk2Connect, the Pollination Project and working as Volunteer Director for Chili’s On Wheels on Maui.

How are you doing?

Many people are in what I liken to a wintertime, and they get to slow down. Yet I'm in a harvest season, so I'm looking forward to when we've harvested everything. It's busy and intense, and a lot of people are very hungry, so we're trying to get as much food to them as possible.

Can you give us a little bit of an idea of what life looked for you in this work, prior to COVID?

“We adhere to what we call emergent strata, emergent principles: we don't grow unless the things are there to grow and sustain us.'“

Before COVID it was Chilis on Wheels on Maui. We're just a small operation;there were five volunteers, and each volunteer would take on what they could. Some of them would make snack packs, others would make full-blown meals. Then we would deliver those to the homeless. At any given week, we would have around 75 vegan meals going out to the homeless with fresh fruits and snacks along with the meal. We adhere to what we call emergent strata, emergent principles: we don't grow unless the things are there to sustain us.

I'm the Volunteer Director of the Maui chapter. I'm also on the Board of Directors of the national Chili’s on Wheels, where I helped in Puerto Rico after the hurricane. This is what prompted me to start this on Maui, because I got to experience how fragile island food systems are. One of our measures for sustainability is not just how much you can cook in your kitchen, it's also how much you can deliver. When you deliver food consistently over time, the food becomes an invitation into a relationship and a friendship with the homeless population. That can turn into an outreach and case management.

What changes have you made in your business/lifestyle/platform to adapt to our current situation?

“The homeless are probably more resilient than any of us.”

The partnerships that we have with the Food Bank, Blue Zones Project, and Common Ground Collective really set the stage for being able to do what we are doing now. This week we are at about 2,500 points of contact. We don't ask, “Are you hungry?” We ask, “What do you need?” Pre-COVID, there wouldn’t be a large number of people who asked for food. The homeless are probably more resilient than any of us, and they take care of themselves really well.

Now with the limited access to food, there has not been one person that doesn't say”yes” to being hungry. They're not hungry, they're starving. And so we go around with food and are thankful when other organizations pop up.

What food system vulnerabilities have been exposed in this crisis?

When the restaurants shut down, that was a huge deal, because there is an unknown invincible system of folks that walk the alleys of Front Street and all the food is [in waste bins] for them. That got cut off one hundred percent island wide.

“Just in terms of food, I estimate about 50% of the access they had to food went away.”

I would estimate that 50% of any homeless person's food came from those resources. On top of that, you have fewer people out on the streets giving leftovers, fewer people shopping, fewer tourists here. Pretty much all of that went away. Just in terms of food, I estimate about 50% of the access they had to food went away.

That then turned it into people moving from where they normally are, or being asked to move, without being given another place to go. They don’t necessarily know where their resources are in the new places. They were trying to find them those first couple of weeks. There was a lot of movement, and it was hard to find those people. We found everybody as much as we could, but they were in trauma. It is already traumatic living on the streets, but they were -- still are -- in active trauma.

I think people would be surprised to know how healthy most homeless people eat and want to eat. So the restaurants, the unknown invincible system, allow for choice. Our current system for feeding the hungry is not always healthy. That is why I like the work of Blue Zones and Common Ground Collective. We bring in the healthy side of things as well, not just feeding people.

“It is already traumatic living on the streets, but they were — still are — in active trauma.”

What is your vision for the future? Are there changes occurring now that you want to see remain in place once COVID-19 is over?

I think ultimately, what would be a better approach is community gardens where the homeless are allowed to go and pick their own fruit. The main request from the homeless population is nutrition. They want nutrition. Out of all the things, we're trying to help them rebuild their foundation. Nutrition is the easiest way to start that. When you have a base level of nutrition, your brain starts to operate differently and can address the trauma.

“If we are supporting our most vulnerable first, everything will be taken care of from there.”

For me, collaboration is the key to all of this. When you collaborate you lift each other up, and I definitely think in the realm of food safety, there's a level of cooperation [that’s necessary]. It might not be a cooperative economic model [currently], but we're seeing right now what happens when we are not thinking of each other as competitors. We are thinking of each other as co-conspirators. We, as humans, have done things individually for so long that we don't necessarily know how to cooperate. I love the example of an octopus: An octopus has a main [neural] hub in its head, but each arm has its own hub, and somehow it still feeds itself. Each arm is an individual arm, and it knows when to bring stuff back to the center hub. As humans, we know really well how to be our own little arm doing our thing; we don't really know how to cooperate. We are learning, and I think we're just at the start of that. If we are supporting our most vulnerable first, everything will be taken care of from there.

How do you see this crisis being described in the history books of the future?

“I hope it's described as a time where we caught our breath.”

I hope it's described as a time where we caught our breath. When you slow down to do that, you actually can see how we are all connected. Hopefully for most, COVID allows them to experience it and feel the slowness. I hope they remember it, so that we can shift some conversations and reclaim systems that have already worked for us.

What do you want the community to know in order to help?

“I think the simplest request would be to harvest your trees.”

It's so basic. If you have a tangerine tree, let's get it harvested. Don't let it just fall. I have a huge mango tree and I know to pay attention. It's May 1st, I have another month until I have to shift my priorities to make sure that mango tree is utilized so the gift of the mango tree is utilized.

Figure out the resources, call in your family to get things harvested. Don't let it rot, because there is absolutely enough. There's absolutely enough fruit alone on this Island to feed a lot of people, and we normally wouldn't even allow that to happen. Right now things rot because there's so much shipped in.

So I think that the simplest request would be to harvest your trees. And if you don't have any, plant a fruit tree. And then if you're called, volunteer to feed those that are the most vulnerable.

Who are your local food heroes?

Two of my volunteers, who like to remain anonymous. They have built their homes around being able to feed their families and then feed the homeless. Between the two of them I think they've probably done 3,000 meals over the past couple of years. Full means.

Jennifer and everybody at Common Ground Collective silently (and sometimes not silently) decreasing the distance between the bridge, connecting the pieces. And The Maui Food Bank. Their willingness to be open to the “healthy” conversation is really amazing.

Thank you for everything you're doing. This has been really illuminating.

Thank you.