Two Minneapolis Creatives collaborated with The Sanneh Foundation to help their community obtain resources after the death of George Floyd

On June 25, Gabrielle (Gabby) Thomas and Effy Kawira collaborated with The Sanneh Foundation and put on a Food Drive fundraiser in the suburbs of Minneapolis, specifically Eden Prairie. The goal of the fundraiser was to provide people located in the suburbs of the Twin Cities a simple way to help their Minneapolis and St. Paul communities that suffered after the murder of George Floyd.

Kenyan native, Kawira works in the film industry of Minneapolis. She started her career as an actress and producer, but her passion quickly pushed her towards a directing role. Thomas describes her work as, a model, actress and social media influencer. Kawira and Thomas met a few years ago but have collaborated on projects and been friends for quite some time.

The collaboration with The Sanneh Foundation came from a connection Thomas has through her boyfriend, Zack Chazin. Chazin’s brother, Eli Fhima suggested that Thomas should team up with Tony Sanneh from The Sanneh Foundation. Fhima and his father, David Fhima have worked closely with Sanneh over the last few years.

Thomas thought it would be a great collaboration for her and Kawira to team up with Sanneh on. Sanneh has trained staff and a strong system in place for distributing food.

The weekend prior to picking up food donations, the two women and Chazin placed flyers in the mailboxes of Eden Prairie residents. They started with Thomas’s neighborhood and continued from there. They gave the neighborhood residents a few days to look through their homes for any supplies they may want to donate or shop for. On June 25, the two women and Chazin circled through the neighborhoods in Chazin’s SUV and grabbed the bags of supplies from the front step of resident’s homes. If community members did not have food or personal care items they wanted to donate, but they still wanted to contribute, The Sanneh Foundation was taking financial donations for the women to use to give back to the Minneapolis/St. Paul community.

“When Gabby and I spoke about coordinating this, we were first looking to do something that would impact and mobilize residents in surrounding suburbs to be a part of creating change in a way that was accessible and convenient,” Kawira stated. “As someone who has lived in suburbs for many years and that has grown up in those environments, I can certainly attest to the fact that it’s very isolating. Many people in suburban neighborhoods feel unaffected by the movement that has been unfolding in our city. Some even intentionally avoid going to the Twin Cities simply because of fear created by the content they are consuming through the media. I felt like there was a need to address that and to engage the people in surrounding suburbs to be a part of helping the communities and families in the cities.”

These two Twin Cities based creatives collaborated on this fundraiser as a way to make a difference towards active change. The two women hope that others follow the work they have done and create their own fundraisers/donation process. Now that the fundraiser is done, the two women are creating a planned process to show others how they completed their fundraiser, so others can offer the same or similar fundraisers in their own community.

“After hearing about the murder of George Floyd and the reactions via social media, I was concerned,” Thomas said. “I didn't like what I was seeing. The attacks on people, the sharing of fake news, the posting of black squares, it didn't make sense and I didn't want the support to become a soon-to-end trend. I wanted to find the longevity in this and a way to take part in the piece that will continue to extend this movement and to back it with action.”

By the end of the fundraiser, Kawira and Thomas had filled up Chazin’s car with donations. As for their online donation process, they met about 58% of their goal, which is about $1,155 out of their $2,000 goal.

“Everything that’s unfolding is re-traumatizing for the Black community and it’s been difficult for many of us to process and to also try to engage in making a difference. Minneapolis has become ground zero for the civil unrest, but our city is also at the forefront of rebuilding and restructuring. It has been beautiful to see everyone come together during such difficult times to help support our community. I’m really hopeful that our city will rise out of the ashes as a stronger, and safer Minneapolis.”