WHO WE ARE
OUR VALUES These values are designed to help Quixote Communities, as an organization, make thoughtful decisions that support our mission and vision.
HISTORYCAMP QUIXOTE Camp Quixote started in Olympia, Washington in 2007, where a group of people experiencing homelessness and their activist supporters, the Poor People’s Union, set up an encampment on a downtown city lot. Their camp was in response to a city ordinance that severely restricted the use of sidewalks (aka criminalizing homelessness). The camp was being threatened with eviction and asked the local Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation for sanctuary on their campus. It was a huge decision for the congregation and luckily, they voted yes, and that's what started the 6 year journey for Camp Quixote. It's a faith-based organization's right to offer sanctuary on their property, but the city required some stipulations. First, the camp could not be permanent, and had to move every 90 days (later on, 180 days). Second, it had to be "hosted" 24/7. This meant someone from the congregation needed to be at the camp constantly to make sure everything was running smoothly. These stipulations are actually a huge part of how the camp gathered a large community of support. Many folks at the faith-based community had never known someone experiencing homelessness, let alone talk to them. The overseeing of the camp helped to humanize the residents, and showed the volunteers that they really were just like them, and that homelessness can happen to anyone. As you can imagine, picking up and relocating 20+ peoples' homes every 90 days is a big ordeal. Fortunately, many faith-based communities in Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater stepped up to coordinate the moves. And thus, Panza (now Quixote Communities) was born. Panza (501c3 nonprofit) was created to support Camp Quixote. Living in a tent however, is not ideal and the residents and members of Panza wanted to find a permanent and more dignified way of living. It was a lot of hard work testifying at city council meetings, presenting at community events, and fundraising but the residents and members of Panza knew this was something they were passionate about and wouldn't stop until they found a resolution. Then the legislature set aside funding for the creation of permanent supportive housing for the nonprofit and Thurston County committed some land! After a lot of hard work, Quixote Village opened its doors on December 24th, 2013. Some excerpts from founder Tim Ransom's Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation Journal article. |