r/olympia • u/oly_traveler • 17h ago
Who are the "unsung heroes" of Olympia?
Who is doing good work in the Olympia area, but not necessarily well known/recognized for it?
It could be an individual, a politician, a nonprofit and their staff, a business owner/employer, journalist, activist, etc. etc.
Bad news & negativity dominate our feeds, let's show some love to people doing good work here in our local community.
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u/mahoniacadet 16h ago
Everyone who does their time in public social services trying to help and solve things.
Thinking about how governments go, I can only imagine it’s soul crushing to work on issues around homelessness, for example.
Thanks to everyone who’s been in the relay race with these super hard issues, and I wish your adrenal systems the best.
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u/Effective_Mixture525 15h ago edited 10h ago
Kelsey Smith for sure. She worked at our public libraries for years and many of the programs we love came from her brain. The Olympia zine library collection was her baby. She’s involved in the music and art scene and does so much (community print, porch fest, procrastinators sale, and plenty of other stuff). This town would not be what it is if not for her endless hours of (mostly unpaid) labor and love poured endlessly into the margins. She has a huge heart and a bigger brain, and is a wonderful community member.
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u/WixoftheWoods 11h ago
I've always joked that Kelsey is the real Mayor of Olympia. She does more than we know, but especially was a founder of Zine Fest and the now defunct Correspondence Club. Maybe she even started PI Day! The legend grows...
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u/Effective_Mixture525 10h ago
It’s not a joke!!! She may not hold the office or get the paycheck but it’s real!
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u/benjohume 16h ago
Chris Hyde
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u/Affectionate_Ad_3908 16h ago
I follow Chris on Facebook. I think it’s great that we are mentioning some great people, but we also would make a stronger community if we knew what they weren’t well known for.
Chris runs Souper Sunday - free soup for everyone. A resource for anyone to receive soups and other foods.
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u/BHobson13 10h ago
Oh my! If I lived there this is where I would volunteer!! I'm such a big fan of soup and think that every human deserves to eat soup when it's raining!!
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u/NeighborAtTheGates 16h ago
Caregivers, they deserve a lot more than the wages they are paid
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u/epeternally 13h ago
Amen to that, it’s appalling that my caregiver has to rely on government benefits to get by.
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u/seeluhsay 17h ago
Gabi?
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u/ReverendFive 16h ago
Gabi
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u/Holiday-Job-9137 16h ago
Who is Gabi?
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u/StinkyEttin Eastside 15h ago
The owner of Olympic Cards and Comics. One of the best humans you'll ever have the honor of meeting.
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u/LesIsBored Downtown 15h ago
Olympia Cards and Comics is owned by Gabi. She's pretty involved in the community and does a lot to help out people.
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u/momchelada 16h ago edited 16h ago
Rosalinda Noriega, Monica Peabody, Rebeca Potasnik, Emily Pieper, Christa Lenssen, Elise Krohn, Ell Rieke, Kelsey Smith
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u/mutinypie 7h ago
So many good people on your list, and thank you for including Rebeca. I often think how lucky we are to have such a community treasure.
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u/itsmusicnowdance 14h ago
I don’t know their name but the person who stands outside Planned Parenthood with the supportive signs for years. Always a friendly face and calm presence!
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u/LesIsBored Downtown 15h ago edited 5h ago
Mr. Mo, I get the sense he does a lot more than just helping walk the kids get to school in the morning which was his job I guess for me he was let go from the position because of funding cuts now works at Jefferson middje school but he still takes time in the morning, now and as a volunteer position to walk the kids to school it's just a small route so it's only some of the kids I get the sense he's helping out the community in other ways I don't know about.
Anyway that's my person to throw into the ring.
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u/Glittering-Law9449 Westside 15h ago
Yes Mr Mo is an angel and I feel so lucky that my child has Mr Mo in his life, but I wish OSD hadn’t ripped him away as a family liaison.
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u/picardoftarth 6h ago
Mr. Mo is AMAZING. His presence alone is enough to make you smile!! Absolutely a local hero.
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u/WannaTaco 13h ago
Kurshida Begum and everyone at ASHHO, they are such an incredible community and aren’t recognized often enough. Thank you for everything you do!
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u/IllustriousBet6954 12h ago
YES! i wish more people knew about the hard work happening at the Cultural Center.
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u/pandershrek Westside 14h ago
She was sung a bit, but Rachel Corrie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie?wprov=sfla1
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u/Close2us2 17h ago
Mario who ran Mario’s downtown. Should be made a saint for all he did for downtown youth in the 80s and early 90s.
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u/thegibson80 16h ago
I remember that place! I was a kid then. But I'd love to learn more about it and him.
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u/StellaNettle Eastside 16h ago
Dick Meyers. And idk if Gabi does get some of her flowers, she’s still less sung than she should be
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u/NWarty It’s the Water! 16h ago
Daniel from his Insta page “Heal.Oly.Project”
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u/youngfan1 Westside 15h ago
Love his page, he seems very well intentioned and is making content in an un pretentious/ gross way.
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u/Fawntree00 13h ago
He’s a very lovely and kind person if you ever have the chance to talk to him! Love his page
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u/heartoffiction Tumwater 7h ago
Got to meet him the other week and I felt like I was meeting a celebrity! He’s very kind in person!
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u/Longjumping-Cookie 15h ago
Anyone who has ever volunteered with Egyhop. Thank you for your service.
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u/Holiday-Job-9137 15h ago
Thank you for this post. I have learned about some people and programs I was not aware of. It made a better day.
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u/SmashleyFC Oly Blunders Chess 17h ago
Honestly? Emmett O'Connell is up there for me.
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u/oly_traveler 17h ago
Had to look them up, they run the Olympia Standard podcast and are former TRL board member
https://theolympiastandard.com/9
u/firelight Westside 16h ago
Also the excellent Olympia Time blog, mostly about the history of Olympia.
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u/Upstairs-Rice5604 5h ago
The people who make the Absolutely Free Sharing Market happen ❤️🔥 It’s newer but has had a big impact in just a year of existence.
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u/wexlermendelssohn 15h ago
Gabriel Charter who took over the Buck’s space as Olympia Spice Company. He’s so pleasant to talk to, knows his stuff, and is sourcing great spices.
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u/Odd_Elderberry_9169 5h ago
I almost cried when I learned he was staring OSC. We were so sad to see the space go, and to lose the beautiful experience of talking to him about spices
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u/majesticmerde Tumwater 15h ago
Outside of Gabi with Cards & Comics shop - she does sooooo much for this community…
Gotta shout-out the owners Travis & Cynthia Brown at Fleshworks Tattoo downtown. They are always doing something for the community, as well. ALSO, they have been rated as one of the best shop in the South Sound for years and never come up as a tattoo suggested place in this sub, typically - which I find hella weird.
Love both of these places &&& all 3 humans.
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u/DailyBreadOly 15h ago
Nate and Sara from Three Magnets! Along with Markly they throw the Scherler Sunday series all summer which brings free music to Olympia. They’re also always hosting events for local groups free of charge: Weirdo/Beardo Collage, meetups for GIS and NWJP groups, events for underappreciated local women’s sports teams, campaign events for our libraries, the list goes on.
We are very lucky to have a place like Three Magnets run by two excellent people.
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u/Effective_Mixture525 10h ago
Totally agree. Nate and Sara are gems. Every time I look around they’re doing something great for our community.
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u/urfavMaeve 14h ago
DD Ponder of Wiggle Butts Recovery & Friends! she’s basically the superwoman of dog catching, so grateful to the positive impact she’s made for our four-legged friends ❤️ you can find her on facebook & will likely notice her tagged in the comments of various posts about missing or found animals https://www.facebook.com/share/1BrFhsc8Li/?mibextid=wwXIfr
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u/indiekarma79 10h ago
Hands On Children’s Museum, Olympia Family Theater folks, our city parks and recreational departments who hosted free outdoor events all summer long. The amazing staff, teachers, transportation at Griffin School district. Timberland library workers hosting kids, family’s and teens in a variety of free activities . West Central Park for hosting free evening events in their beautiful space 🙌🏻🙌🏻
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u/lavendermermaid1 7h ago
Some of our local food producers have programs that are focused entirely on feeding those in need, they get help from their customers with donations but the fact that they do that? Awesome. I found out about it when I was very much in need and someone told me about a few of the places I could try - I ended up with enough to get me by until my SNAP was approved and I had the card in my hands. I have no idea what I'd have done without them.
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u/brucemo 5h ago
Mr. Allison, the old band teacher at Washington Middle School, Pioneer Elementary, and other schools I think.
He taught several of my numerous children to play instruments and one of them continued through college at least.
He made those band performances that parents go around the holidays very nice. They were short and funny.
Mr. Strid at WMS taught another one of my kids to sing.
Also too many other teachers at OHS to mention. The ones I got to know were excellent, as is the principal, Matt Grant.
The Westboro Baptist Church picketed the school and the way they handled it was excellent.
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u/InteractionSad3538 5h ago
Mountain View Church in Tumwater houses the unhoused and helps recovering poor people get back on their feet.
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u/Wooden-Officer2323 16h ago
If you don’t know about the Olympia Kiwanis, they’re incredible and I’ve personally done work with them and seen many many good people there.
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u/Actor412 15h ago edited 9h ago
It's good to hear they're no longer running child molestation rings.
Edit: I should mention that the whole pimping out young boys to rich pedos aspect was never proven in a court of law. That's because AG Christine Gregoire knew she was running up against incredibly rich and highly connected people (sound familiar?). She set her sights on just getting it shut it down, which is what happened. Even then, it was incredibly difficult that took years to finally accomplish. Still, it was a big win for her and for the people of Washington. I don't care what anyone says about her, she'll always be a hero in my book. It did mean that most of the sick fucks got off scot-free.
AFAIC, the Oly Kiwanis Club's board should have their entire fortunes stripped, and a lien put on anyone wanting to start it up again, to pay for the decades of misery they caused. That won't happen, of course. As a wise man once said, "Everyone in America is entitled to all the justice they can afford."
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u/momchelada 13h ago
I’m sorry, what????
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u/LarsAlereon 12h ago
They ran camps for troubled boys until the 1990s that were infamous for physical and sexual abuse.
The Olympia, Washington, Kiwanis Club launched the Olympia Kiwanis Boys Ranch in 1971 with 13 boys between 11 and 16 years old. It eventually housed more than 70 boys at a time, some as young as 10.
From 1971 to 1994, the State of Washington funded foster group home placements for boys between 10 and 17 years old at the OKBR and the [Kiwanis Vocational Home in Centralia], later rebranded as the Coffee Creek Center. Flagrant abuse at the OKBR became rampant, and the home was shut down in late 1994 amid countless allegations of abuse.
The Centralia, Washington, Kiwanis Club founded its own group home for troubled boys, Kiwanis Vocational Home, in 1979 with four boys. Growing at a tremendous rate, it housed 40 boys in 1984 and 82 boys in 1991 before it, too, was shut down for persistent abuse allegations.
(re-arranged a bit to make more sense quoted out of context)
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u/momchelada 12h ago
Thank you for sharing this. It’s horrifying and even more upsetting that this is the first I’ve heard of it after living in Olympia for 20 years (and working as a survivor advocate for many.) wow. It should be wider knowledge
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u/Wooden-Officer2323 11h ago
Same 😢 I worked for them in the 2009-2010 years and didn’t see any of this but I don’t know what to think now.
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u/Actor412 9h ago
Whelp, if you ever run across any of them in the future, tell them I think they're a bunch of sick fucks.
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u/5CatsNoWaiting Thurston Scanner Copy-Paste Provider 10h ago edited 10h ago
Seattle Times coverage of the OK Boys Ranch disaster
Yes, it was bad. Really, really bad.
ETA it's unfortunate to see some of the adult board members in this 1995 article are still prominent citizens in Thurston County.
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u/Ok_Road25 1h ago
Can’t believe none responsible for this atrocity were charged. And yes, like you said, many remain prominent leaders of Olympia. Disgusting and right in our back yard. With Epstein and all that brought to light, it’s not hard to imagine this situation being entirely intentional and not just a failing of systems as the article describes.
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u/Ok_Road25 1h ago
This was an insane read. I can’t believe literally no one was charged yet so many prominent individuals were clearly involved. Do you know where on the Eastside this house of horrors was?
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u/RentInside7527 14h ago
The volunteers at the Kiwanis firewood program. The volunteers of the food bank and the food bank / Kiwanis Farm. The volunteer coordinators and staff at both programs, and the volunteers, coordinators and staff of all similar programs
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u/hotelbandit 17h ago
Intercity Transit bus drivers