Underground Good: Marv Ellis

Ed Note: This opinion piece is part of our new series, Underground Good, which focuses on providing a window into the mindsets of ordinary people doing good work in their community. It is written by sociologist, coach, and evaluation consultant Sharon Brisolara. You can find the rest of our Underground Good series here. Want to nominate someone? You can do that here.

Marv Ellis is known by many in our communities as the guy with the taco hat who creates community through shared food and gathering. The recurring event that Marv hosts to feed people at Caldwell Park is called Marvwell. His story is one of a deepening appreciation of the potential for collective action, the elements of community connection, and reflections on community leadership. We are honored to offer a small part of his story here.

The person nominating you said that your story is about a big bearded man with a taco hat who organizes to feed people who don’t have homes in our community. How do you describe what you do?

First of all, thank you to whoever nominated me. I feel pretty privileged. I’ve seen a few of the other people nominated and they are all amazing people. So, I feel like I’m in a pretty good crowd. I’m going to have to step my game up to compete with everyone’s greatness.  I’m thankful about that.

As far as the description goes, people know me from Facebook. I’m that taco guy with a big old giant taco hat and a beard. Aside from that, I would say that the majority of people we see now at Marvwell are people who have a house and a job and a vehicle, and still they struggle to make ends meet. One of the biggest things that goes first when people are struggling is quality food. These are people that make too much money for food stamps, but not enough to survive. They’re living off the bare essentials to get by. And so a couple of tacos is just a beautiful thing.

I would say that the majority of people we see now at Marvwell are people who have a house and a job and a vehicle, and still they struggle to make ends meet. One of the biggest things that goes first when people are struggling is quality food. These are people that make too much money for food stamps, but not enough to survive. They’re living off the bare essentials to get by. And so a couple of tacos is just a beautiful thing.

Marv Ellis

If I heard about you, and I showed up in Caldwell Park for food, what would I find?

The first thing you’re going to see would be a big trailer right out on the street that says Marvwell on it, and a banner in front of the gazebo that matches the trailer  Then you’re going to see a bunch of people, a grill, a bunch of smiles, and you’re gonna smell some good tacos grilling. Personally, I think it’s one of the most beautiful spaces in all of Redding right there.

That’s what really started the whole thing —protecting that space and making sure that it didn’t get shut down, like South City Park. Marvwell, where the gazebo is, is just really a beautiful space and I refuse to let that be taken away from us. A lot of it is protecting the space, and making sure that we care for it, by having good elements there.

*South City Park has been mostly closed to the public since a fence around the public park was erected by the City of Redding in 2018.

What does it mean to create an environment where good can emerge?

The key word to the whole thing is community.  We’re building community, making a space where people feel welcome and want to come and get to know each other. On Thursdays, we have tacos, and  you see families, kids playing in the grass, and everyone’s enjoying that area and treating a park like it should be. Nobody is doing bad things because good things are happening there.

What are the elements, for you, of creating  community?

First of all, making a space everyone knows that they’re welcome at. Number two would be personally welcoming them, offering them ice cold water and a seat, letting them know what’s happening. The next most important part would be inviting them to speak and genuinely caring and listening to what they have to say. That’s a big part of feeling welcome, having a place that they get to speak and their voice and their opinion matters.

Often, people leave in a better mind space because they got to talk to someone. Speaking of the homeless community, a lot of people ignore those who are homeless or, even worse,  act negatively towards them. So just a little space, even if it’s a bench and a gazebo where you can sit down with someone who listens to you—that is huge for people’s mental stability.

[The way we create community is] first by making a space everyone knows that they’re welcome at. Number two would be personally welcoming them, offering them ice cold water and a seat, letting them know what’s happening. The next most important part would be inviting them to speak and genuinely caring and listening to what they have to say. That’s a big part of feeling welcome, having a place that they get to speak and their voice and their opinion matters.

Marv Ellis

Where did the name Marvwell come from?

The name came in around 2017. Before doing any of this, I would just go hang out at the park. I made a post on Facebook, and said, “Man, I come here so much, they should name the park after me.” A friend said how about Marvwell? We all laughed about it, but then it stuck. My friends actually bought me the banner that says Marwell.

When did you start this particular offering of food?

Around that time, I had some friends that used to do a thing called Friendsgiving at the park. We would all gather and have a big potluck, and anyone was welcome. I loved the energy of that.

Not long after that, I was on food stamps myself, and I would save a piece of my food stamps every month, until I had enough to make a meal for others at the park.

How many people come?

We do two tacos apiece and we go through about 100-200 tacos per event usually. So between 50 and 100 people total. Yesterday was a really slow day. That’s the weird thing, you never know how a Thursday is going to go; you might think this is the last Thursday of the month, it’s going to be a lot of people because it’s the end of the month and no one has food money left. And then you can think, it’s raining and it’s the beginning of the month, nobody’s going to show up and you’ll run out of tacos in an hour.

We got a food permit at some point. Hamburger is usually what we do for our meat now because it’s easy to prepare on site.  It’s all about quality. The last thing we want is a big pot of spaghetti. I want to make something that I myself would be happy to eat. Just because it’s for people with less doesn’t mean they deserve less. That’s been a big part of our way.

Where do you get the resources for the food? How do you get the word out?

Everything comes from donations. Some come, get tacos and leave money. Everything is completely community funded and community run. That is what I love most about it.

We are on Facebook. We’re getting close to 2000 members there. Many donate, not everyone donates, it’s just good to see that many people care. That’s beautiful.

I have a couple of people – Joetta Ferguson and Robbie and my friend Hunter – they make sure we get out on a lot of the traffic and informational channels on Facebook. I’m super thankful for them. They did a great job of helping get the word out. Everything else is word of mouth.

What have you learned by being involved in this project?

I definitely didn’t think, three years ago, that I’d be making a weekly meal at the park for people in need. That seems crazy to me, not in a bad way. I love doing it, and I’m thankful to be doing it. It’s pretty amazing. I just never expected that would be me.  At no point in my life did I think, I’m gonna be a community leader. I tried to do my part and make a difference in my community.

I learned that if you want to do something, definitely go out and do it. Don’t worry about the city and all the paperwork. My biggest learning of this whole experience is to avoid the red tape that you can and do everything you can do to get the project going. it doesn’t have to be big, grab a bag and some trash grabbers and go pick up garbage and make a difference. That’s how it starts.

I tried to go to college. I never did good in school. I’m not really good at sitting down. I was like, I just can’t do this. This is already long and boring and drawn out and miserable. But, show me how to do something. Give me something hands on and I’ll get it done.

I think a big part of being a leader is being the example that people want to get behind more than telling people what to do.

-Marv Ellis

You’ve mentioned many values: community, belonging, listening. . . Where do you think those values came from?

I grew up in foster homes and group homes. Even back then, the majority of the trouble I got in was sticking up for somebody that I felt got done wrong. I’ve always been that person. I fought to legalize marijuana, when that was a thing way back when. But what really got me started in community leadership was George Floyd and joining the protests. We had a solid month straight of protesting in front of City Hall and that’s where I first got super involved. We got the opportunity to go to Seattle. I was getting such conflicting stories of what was happening there: that either it was people making a difference, building gardens and looking out for each other, a movement, or that it was a group run by a drug lord and they’re handing out AR-15s. I thought, it can’t be both of these things.

It was my first time ever leaving California going north. It took about 15 minutes of being there to realize it was none of those things.  Sure, there was vandalism but there was zero violence.  There were hundreds of people who were mentally unstable, unmedicated, not properly taken care of, in the dark wandering in an area where police weren’t allowed. That’s where I came in to see how to peacefully solve a problem for people in those situations and where I really first got involved thinking, how do we make a difference?

It was something to witness, people saying no more violence and taking back spaces, and that was beautiful to me.

Amazingly, somehow we made the front page of the paper in Seattle. When I came back and joined the protest again, almost every night someone would yell the N word at us and one time we had piss-filled balloons thrown at us. Nobody actually got hit, But it was weird to me to have people mad at me for standing up and saying everyone’s equal, since I wouldn’t have been here if it weren’t for anger like that. I thought, if you’re mad about that, you’re probably part of the problem.

Because I was protesting people think I’m anti-police. Actually, that experience showed me that we need police.  The issue is more how people are policed. In the spaces there where there weren’t police things seemed to break down because there was no authority involved.

How has all of that shaped your sense of who you are? Your role in the community or world?

That’s a good question. I’m not sure . . . I don’t see myself making tacos at the park forever. I would like to see the concept go on forever.  At some point, I would like to do bigger and better things as well. I kind of go where I’m needed. I think a big part of being a leader is being the example that people want to get behind more than telling people what to do.

I think as much as people appreciate what I do, there’s just as many people out there that are like, I hate that guy. There are anti-homeless people and they don’t like me because I help homeless people.  I figure, whether I help them or not, there are going to be homeless people. I don’t understand why giving people less, who already have nothing, is a solution to anything.

There was one person who had a problem with us feeding people there; they felt that people who were homeless were the problem, or in the majority of the problem. I told that person, I think they’re focused too much on the word homeless and not enough on the word people. That was their biggest flaw in their statement, I think.

There are anti-homeless people and they don’t like me because I help homeless people.  I figure, whether I help them or not, there are going to be homeless people. I don’t understand why giving people less, who already have nothing, is a solution to anything. . . . I think they’re focused too much on the word homeless and not enough on the word people. That was their biggest flaw in their statement, I think.

Marv Ellis

What’s challenging for you about doing what you do? How do you personally navigate those challenges?

Well, first and foremost, I‘ve got to be that person that’s happy to talk to people. I will talk to anyone. Creating that open line of communication and following up. You might not want tacos, but would you like ice water while you’re on your walk?

One of the hardest things, especially in the homeless community, is seeing people who are suffering from addiction. You see them come and you see them deteriorating. But you’re not there to judge and you have to have that line between you and what is happening. You definitely have to stay strong on that. You can’t pour from an empty cup. And then you have to look at the overall picture and see, overall, I’ve made a difference here.

People do come by that were on drugs and aren’t on drugs now. They come back because they feel it’s a safe community space. You have to look at it like that. You can’t judge and you just have to wish people the best and let them live their lives. That is a struggle sometimes for sure. You see people, you become friends with people, and I genuinely want to see everyone be their best.

What keeps you going, what motivates you when it gets hard?

I always say, you need a bad day to appreciate the good ones. You need a rainy day to appreciate the sun, you need darkness to appreciate the light, otherwise, everyday would just be the same, boring.

Also, I just genuinely want to leave the world a better place. If I make a little bit of a difference, when I’m gone, I can be happy knowing that I did my best to make something better. And I think if we all did that, you know, the next generation would have it better than us.

You know, I’ll be 45 this year.  When I grew up, you still came to the table for dinner. You still played outside, it was a lot more family orientated. I’m kind of just still a sucker for that; to say, let’s all gather around and be human beings and learn from one another as opposed to just googling something and forgetting it an hour later. I just think it is a better way.

If people read this and they want to support you, how can they do that?

They can contact me through Facebook. My best suggestion though, would be to come down to the park on a Thursday, come see yourself what we’re about first. Don’t get me wrong, money is what makes it work and all this is done by donation. But before you donate, come experience and be part of it. Make sure it’s something that you believe in and that you would want to donate and be a part of.

What would you say to someone who would like to do something but doesn’t know where to begin?

Do some research and see ways where you might start small. You don’t have to dive into the deep end of the pool. You could start out by buying a case of water, going somewhere where you know people are in need or leave that case of water on a corner with a note on it, somewhere where people in need will see it. You could also find somebody else that is maybe experienced and shadow them and ask if you could help and share the experience.

Is there anything I didn’t ask about that I should have or anything else that you think is important to share?

I think the most important thing is to just be a positive person as much as you can. Not that everyone can always be positive all the time. But do your best.

I think that’s one of the greatest skills that I would say that I have. I try my best to stay positive more often than not.  You’ll see that many of my ads have a disco ball on the front because I think, all you have to do is shine.  No matter what you do in life. just spread that light of yours as far as possible in a positive way.

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