DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Zakariyah Hill woke up June 2 consumed with a need to do more for her community than hold up a sign and march.
It was just a few days into what would become a summer of protests against racism and police brutality in Des Moines — and across the nation — ignited by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.
So, she asked herself: “Where can I fit in? What is the need?” Looking to Minneapolis, she saw people providing food and water to demonstrators during the long days and nights of unrest.
“I can do that in Des Moines,” Hill, 22, said to herself. And thus, the Supply Hive — a new Des Moines community nonprofit organization — was born.
Hill and longtime friend and Supply Hive co-founder Aaliyah Quinn took to social media, asking for donations through the payment app Venmo to supply sandwiches and water during upcoming protests.
They raised $6,000 within 24 hours, Hill told the Des Moines Register, and supplied enough sandwiches and water to fuel 500 people during a Des Moines Black Liberation Movement march June 3 to Mayor Frank Cownie’s home.
Supply Hive continued to provide supplies during protests throughout the summer and has grown into a full-fledged nonprofit organization, with five board members and a pool of volunteers.
Hill has helped develop Supply Hive’s new mission: to provide a space of nourishment in Des Moines, to build leaders in local communities, and to promote physical, mental and spiritual health and sustainability within the social justice movement.
“There is a force that I have felt since June. It’s hard to put into words ... it’s been an excitement, and I’m sure a lot of other people feel it,” Hill said. “Des Moines is coming together over common causes to make sure that their neighbors are fed. Are kept warm. Are given the right supplies to live and feel nourished.
“This work keeps people alive, and people above water,” she said.
Hill credits much of who she is, and some of the inspiration behind the Supply Hive, to the women who raised her: her mother, Rebecca Buchholtz, and late great-grandmother Ruth “Ruthie” Buchholtz.
In its first year, Supply Hive established a community garden and a “supply library” stocked with essential items such as hygiene and menstrual products, at 13th Street and College Avenue. She says she found her love of gardening, as well as pop culture, through her great-grandmother.
“With Supply Hive and the community garden we built, I think about her all the time,” Hill said of “Grandma Ruthie,” who she said spent a lifetime feeding her family and community before her death at age 94 in September 2019.
Hill, a lover of bold colors, streetwear fashion, statement pieces and all things Beyonce, has a fascination with pop culture that she said was sparked by watching TV with her great-grandmother. They bonded over series like “The Golden Girls,” “Little House on the Prairie” and game shows.
She said there’s a noticeable pop culture influence on Supply Hive, which raises money by selling shirts and face masks featuring caricatures of “BEEyonce,” hosting fundraisers such as its September fashion show, which featured upcycled clothing made by local artists, and naming its Patreon membership levels after hip-hop legends like Notorious BEE-IG.
As for Hill’s independent, confident, entrepreneurial and giving spirit, she got that from her mother.
Rebecca Buchholtz, a dental assistant and single mother, started selling old clothing and items she bought at garage sales on eBay to make ends meet when Hill was in high school. She worked hard so her daughter wouldn’t have to live without, and she taught Hill how to save, spend and make money, and how to be independent.
“I’ve always pushed her to go follow her dreams, whatever she wanted to do. I didn’t want her to settle for less,” said Buchholtz, 41.
Quinn, co-founder of the Supply Hive, is another powerful woman in Hill’s life. The two have been friends since middle school. Quinn said giving back to the community was a passion of theirs growing up at Cornerstone Family Church.
Starting the Supply Hive has helped fulfill — and amplify — that passion.
“We really see that our hearts are in giving back to the community,” said Quinn, 22. “I realized a lot of things (about) Zakariyah, and how she really takes this serious. ... We really enjoy and love doing this.”
Hill and Quinn decided to name their nonprofit the Supply Hive because of the work bees do for their hive and for the earth’s ecosystem.
“We have our volunteers. They’re like the worker bees, and we all work together to make this hive,” Quinn said. She and Hill are the “Queen Bees” — another Beyonce reference.
The women say Supply Hive has helped feed thousands of Iowans, including hundreds of Cedar Rapids residents after August’s derecho. And they’ve raised more than $45,000 through crowdsourcing and collaborations with local businesses, including Horizon Line Coffee and Raygun.
They’ve used that money to distribute cold weather and frostbite treatment kits for homeless people, backpacks filled with supplies to people being deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and more.
Hill, a senior at Iowa State University majoring in management information systems, is looking for a full-time job after graduation but doesn’t plan to back off her role with Supply Hive.
She said she’s humbled by the early growth of the nonprofit and is excited for what’s to come, especially because she knows what it’s like to struggle.
When Hill was growing up, her family relied on charitable services in the Des Moines metro out of necessity. She received food, school supplies, toys and more from local organizations, she said.
“I’ve dealt with the problems that the same people we’re trying to help have dealt with,” Hill said. “That keeps me going.”
Hill also remembers the guilt and shame she felt for receiving charity.
“There’s a stigma,” she said. And to end that feeling, the Supply Hive emphasizes joy in its interactions with families.
For instance, when the Supply Hive provided essential items to over 100 families at its Celebration of Black Motherhood in July, it kept the atmosphere fun, with music, food, games, root beer floats and more.
Planned projects for the new year include a community fridge in the Des Moines metro, a resume-building webinar, and a podcast called “Live from the Hive,” focused on telling the stories of people in Des Moines. And Hill hopes to build on existing partnerships with community organizations such as Urban Dreams, the Des Moines Street Medics and the Red Basket Project, to expand Supply Hive’s services.
One day, Hill hopes to expand the Supply Hive beyond Des Moines.
“I want to connect Iowa with the rest of the world, and show that it’s not just a flyover state with flyover people,” she said. “We have some very important, very cool people in this small radius.”
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