OUR FOUNDER
Founder & Executive Director Shalonda Faircloth founded the 518 Free Store in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic after witnessing the devastatingly disproportionate effects COVID-19 was having on her community. Through the mentorship of elder community leaders and dedication, she started organizing the creation of the 518 Free Store. Drawing from her own lived experience in Schenectady as a Queer, Black woman enduring lifelong systemic class, gender, and racial violence from the very services and resources she was dependent on for her survival, she set out to create a safe, dignified program that would elevate the existing standards for direct service programs.
WHY THIS WORK IS IMPORTANT
Looking at our communities, it’s evident that BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ MaGes of New York need immediate, equitable support. For many of us this support is the difference between life and death. Our lived experience calls us to action, but the numbers cannot be ignored, and consistently prove why this work is necessary and important.