CITIZEN SPOTLIGHT
Bagz of Luv WHAT BEGAN AS SIMPLY A CALLING TO DO SOME GOOD LED AUGUSTINA AVILES AND KELLY VARGAS DOWN A PATH THEY WOULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED. By Berlin Green
Suddenly out of work as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the United States, sous chef Augustina Aviles stopped cooking for customers and instead started feeding her homeless neighbors. “We started on Easter Sunday 2020, it was really random,” Aviles said about herself and mother Kelly Vargas. “I got laid off from my job. We were in the height of the pandemic and something just came over me to go out and do some good. Someone suggested feeding the homeless but at first I wasn’t sure. I’ve never done anything like that in my life. I didn’t even realize how many people we had on the streets. I went to the grocery store and made about fifty sack lunches and drove around for a while. I didn’t know where to start. So I called my mom and we went downtown to the bridge right next to McDonald’s. We had a line form quick and we ran out of food in ten minutes. Fifty sack lunches — ten minutes — gone, and we still had about ten people waiting for food, so we ran up to McDonald’s and grabbed food to get them fed.” Augustina made a post on Facebook about her experience and what she witnessed and support came quickly. A donation of food allowed Augustina to feed over a hundred people the following day and she learned even more about the people and their stories. “We were just blown away. People started telling us that churches had to stop feeding and places had to close their doors due to the pandemic. They had no resources and no idea how they were going to survive. I heard outrageous stories. That’s when we decided to go full throttle. Like, we really need to be out here, this is insane. All these people are so grateful for just a little bit of help. I never knew it was so bad out there. People in this awful, down-and-out situation and they just welcomed us. Before long, people started calling my mom ‘mom.’ She’s become a real presence out there. When we go to different spots calling out for her, ‘Hey mom, can I have a hug?’ as soon as they
see her,” she said. For Aviles, having her mother partner with her in this project is very special. It allows her to spend valuable time with her mother, who suffers from short-term memory due to a brain tumor. “Having my mom come is pretty dope because most of these people don’t Kelly Vargas and Augustina Aviles of Bagz of Luv. Photo by Berlin Green have any type of mom or dad relationship anymore. They’ve telling each other about it, so in lost a lot and sometimes all you want times of extreme cold, I would drive is a hug from your parents, so she’s around and people know my truck, gained a lot of popularity out there so they’d stop me and ask for a because of her hugs. And just listenheater. Something literally made ing to them, because a lot of them from almost nothing but trash and out there could be in tears having rocks and helps them so much,” severe mental breakdowns either Aviles said. from lack of food, lack of medication Now entering its third year, Bagz or just severe mental illness. She of Luv has seen many changes in the gives them that physical touch that people they serve. While some have they need and a lot of people won’t managed to get off the streets, the offer,” Aviles said. city’s diverse homeless population “I love them all. They’re all like has grown exponentially. my babies,” said Vargas. “Everyone “Some of our friends have got off deserves love.” the street and there’s some of them While she sets up feeding sites in that actually aren’t going to leave populated areas, more often the streets. It’s the lifestyle that Augustina drives around delivering they’ve chosen. But most of them, food to those who need it. She’s it was just one mistake, one missed learned their stories, where they bill got him to that circumstance. frequent and what they need. She’s The youngest person I’ve met was set up partnerships with Pet Food 13 years old and the oldest person Pantry of Oklahoma City to bring was 83 years old. And the thing food to people with pets, and in her about it is when your benefits labs, free time, she collects unwanted and everything was shut down, how items that serve as valuable tools to are they supposed to renew that? someone living in homelessness You’re 83 years old, you don’t know such as backpacks, tents and clothhow to use a frickin’ computer. One ing. During the cold months, of my biggest arguments is that we Augustina and a few friends take need caseworkers on the streets, not crafty steps to help their homeless in offices. Many of these people friends stay warm. don’t know how to use computers “We went all MacGyver to help. and they get confused. I’ve helped We created alcohol heaters out of several people apply for benefits and trash. It’s such a simple thing but it file their paperwork. Technology makes a big impact. Since I work in like it’s been a game changer but not a kitchen, we get a lot of #10 cans. everyone knows how to use it,” We drill holes in them then put a dog Aviles said. food can in the middle, tissue paper, This work has changed alcohol, rocks on the inside to fold Augustina’s heart and the lives of it down, and a little handle made those around her and she hopes it with a clothes hanger. They make will change more. pretty efficient little stoves/heaters “I’m so much more grateful. You that can keep people warm and from don’t realize how blessed you are freezing to death. People started and I don’t have a lot. But I’m thank-
ful for air conditioning and having a home and having a good relationship with my parents and all the small things like that. This is something that’s changed my dad’s heart too. In the past, he used to be hardened towards people on the street. Now he helps them. The people around me, friends and co-workers get excited to help and I’ll go outside and there’ll be cases of water on my truck to give out,” Aviles said. Bagz of Luv recently became a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit to create more transparency for donors and to gain more reach. Augustina would like to make serving her community her primary focus and hopes the non-profit will continue to grow. “I want to do this full-time but I have a pretty small kitchen, so I can only do so much,” Aviles said. “My goal is to get mobile and get a food truck to take on-site and serve many areas, to actually cook these people some good food. I feel like this was all put in place for a reason. I’ve been in the food industry for 28 years, cooking for anywhere from 100 to 5,000 people, so I’m used to cooking for the masses. You can do so much with just a little bit of stuff from the kitchen. For example, people in the streets love fried egg and bologna sandwiches, like really love them, and it’s so simple to make. But our main goal and passion is just to get out there and love on them and show them love. Because so many of them are just broken.” To learn more, visit facebook. com/bagzofluv
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