{"id":13584,"date":"2020-11-22T21:51:07","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T05:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/?p=13584"},"modified":"2024-03-21T14:28:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T21:28:12","slug":"gratitude-market-culver-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westsidemommy.com\/site\/gratitude-market-culver-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Shop Local and Benefit the Community at Gratitude Market in Culver City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Gratitude
Gratitude Market exterior<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When I first started this blog seven years ago, one of the first events I produced was a fundraiser, Desserts for <\/a>Disaster<\/a> Relief<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, benefiting the victims of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. I am grateful to everyone who came together to help raise money for relief efforts, and am thankful for their friendship and kindness. One of the businesses I worked with for this event, The Whole 9 Gallery<\/em> and The Peace Project<\/em> (their non-profit), has recently evolved into several avenues of goodwill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Whole 9 Gallery<\/em> is now the Gratitude Market<\/a><\/strong>. I visited and interviewed Lisa, who will give you a clearer idea of what they do and how it all came together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview with Lisa Schultz (Gratitude Market \/ The Peace Project)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Lisa Schultz at the counter of Gratitude Market<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tell me how the Gratitude Market came to be<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When the lockdown happened in March and it became clear we were going to have to close The Whole 9 Gallery, I reached out to local community leaders to ask how we could use our resources to help. \u00a0It became clear that families of students in the Culver City Unified School District were in need of food so we immediately turned The Whole 9 Gallery into a food bank and, in partnership with our donors and the local community, organized a weekly distribution that included food we purchased, donated food, fruit from neighbors trees and other necessities. \u00a0In total, we sent home $250K of food and necessities to 1,000 local families \u2013 ensuring that our neighbors, CCUSD families, and our restaurant workers had enough food during the early months of COVID. That got us thinking about sharing food with the community, so we transformed our space, changed our name, and opened back up \u2013 selling most of the great stuff we had at The Whole 9 Gallery like artisanal jewelry, blown glass, ceramics, and other cool stuff from US and international artisans, plus freshly baked bread and specialty foods.\u00a0 We also added in a food pantry and have opened it up on Wednesdays to give our neighbors who need food a hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Art and food items compliment each other on display at Gratitude Market<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How does the Gratitude Market’s profits benefit the food pantry and what are some examples of monetary amounts and how they benefit the non-profit.<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The motivation behind everything we do is to support our humanitarian work which has spanned four continents (including the US) since we launched The Peace Project in 2010. \u00a0Right now, our work is focused on feeding our local community. \u00a0Gratitude Market supports that by providing space, human resources, and an opportunity to evangelize what we\u2019re doing with our customers and the community and get them involved. \u00a0We raise money to cover program expenses \u2014 right now, all money raised is being put towards food for the pantry, e.g., $40 buys groceries for one family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Send a card, not a text” wall of greeting cards at Gratitude Market<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How do you choose your vendors?<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We have over 200 makers represented in Gratitude Market \u2014 many of them local craftspeople, but also international brands like Canaan which hails from Palestine, an area where we\u2019ve been doing humanitarian work through our non-profit, The Peace Project. \u00a0Our goal is to represent the food and crafts of the United States and countries and regions that are important to us and to use food and art to share stories of each country’s culture, humanity, and their struggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Children’s section at Gratitude Market<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Who are some of the local artisans and vendors who have items at the Gratitude Market and what do you anticipate\u00a0being big sellers for the holiday season?<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We have dozens of local artisans including those based in and around Culver City such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n