Sunday Roundup: Going Slow

Locally developed text-based service helps people find food banks; Rep. Jared Huffman's new book "No Prophets" comes out in August; SoCo Alert vs Nixle

Dale Dougherty, Kavya Krishnamurthy, and Laura Hagar Rush

Jul 12, 2026

One of the more creative signs urging drivers to slow down is on Pleasant Hill Ave North where neighbors are petitioning the City to add “add some traffic-calming measures.” (photo by Dale Dougherty)

Need food? Text food

by Kavya Krishnamurthy

Six years ago, Gillian Haley created a text-based application called “Text Food” to connect the homeless and other people suffering from food insecurity to free meals and groceries. In May of this year, she handed over the program to the United Way, which will be taking it nationwide.

Text Food/Comida partners with organizations like food banks, food pantries, churches and other food distribution groups then compiles their information on where food is being distributed, and texts this information directly to those who need it.

Users of the service need only text “Food” or “Comida” to (707)-353-3882, and they will receive an option to request information on either meals or groceries. Then, the user can enter their zipcode, and they will receive a chain of information on where they can access free food locally.

A longtime resident of Sebastopol, Haley spent her professional life as a corporate consultant. Her specialty was change management, and she often worked with global organizations seeking to adjust to a digitally-dominated world.

When she retired, she began volunteering with Homeless Action! and later founded her own organization, Justicewise. Its first project was a photography exhibit that revolved around overcoming prejudice and fear of the homeless.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, housing and hunger issues surged. Food distribution networks for the poor—and everyone else—were disrupted

“In corporate consulting, I worked on digital transformation projects where we took old systems that relied on paper and phone calls and emails and data bank storage, and we connected them all. So I said, ‘Well I know how to solve that problem. We just need to get the system connected.’”

In the spring of 2020, the Sonoma Intersections Coalition gave Haley some funding to create a platform that connects people to free food in Sonoma County. She workshopped the design with social service workers and members of the Sonoma County Health Action group, and by the end of April, they had a product that people could use. By August of 2020, 600 people in Sonoma County were using her text app.

Ultimately, Haley decided that the service would be better in the hands of an organization with a full-time devoted staff. “It turned out that the United Way was also a system-focused organization, and they listen to community feedback. So they were a really good match.”

This past winter, Haley and her team worked to integrate ”Text Food” into United Way’s systems. They trained United Way staff on how to use the technology, and in May of 2026, Haley handed Text Food/Comida over.

What’s Haley’s next project? She’s not sure, but said she is seeking new perspectives that will show her a different approach to making an impact. She referenced an idea from Albert Einstein, “that we can’t solve our problems from the same level of thinking that created them.”

Rep. Jared Huffman’s “No Prophets”

Jared Huffman, who represents California’s Second Congressional District, says he’s a Humanist who doesn’t believe in gods. That makes him a rare non-believer in Congress, at least in saying so. He’s written a new book that comes out in August called No Prophets: The Fight To Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism. Recently, Huffman has been featured in the LA Times, “In God he doesn’t trust; Still, his congressional career thrives.”

About the book:

No Prophets argues that Christian nationalism is now America’s most dangerous political movement. … Drawing on his experiences as a formerly devout Christian and the only Humanist ever to serve in Congress, Huffman maps the movement’s largely hidden landscape—taking readers behind the scenes of the Capitol, exposing the tactics and myths Christian nationalists use to advance their agenda, and showing how America is imperiled by our reluctance to confront threats cloaked in Christianity.

Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House, endorsed the book, saying: “Jared Huffman shows how Christian nationalism betrays the very principles it claims to defend, and he does so with clarity, compassion, and unflinching honesty.”

Copperfield’s in Santa Rosa is organizing an event featuring Rep. Jared Huffman and actor and Buddhist teacher Peter Coyote in conversation about No Prophets at the Finley Community Center on August 22, 2026. For more information and to order tickets, go here.

We’d actually like to see Rep Huffman debate Vice President JD Vance whose new book, Communion, discusses his recent conversion to Catholicism and what he sees as a more active role of religion in public life.

SoCo Alert vs Nixle

Last week, we talked about the new SoCo Alert system and how to register for it to receive emergency alerts (linked here). We wondered how SoCo Alert was different than Nixle.

The Sebastopol Times talked to Karen Hancock, who is Public Information Officer for Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management and asked her that question and whether people might need one or the other, or both. She admitted that it can be confusing but having redundant warning systems is not a bad thing, she said.

SoCo Alert is a warning notification that is pushed out to residents like an Amber Alert. It also works with landline phones. Your cellphone will vibrate (unless you have turned off emergency messaging). Nixle only communicates through text messages.

SoCo Alert is used only by Sonoma County Dept of Emergency Management. Nixle is used by law enforcement and fire agencies and may include public safety advisories, while SoCo Alert does not.

SoCo Alert is part of the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS), which is FEMA’s national platform that allows authorized federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial officials to send geographically targeted emergency alerts to the public. This includes delivery using the NOAA wether radio system.

Cities and police departments use Nixle to send out warnings. The Sheriff’s Dept uses Nixle to send out evacuation orders for all unincorporated areas while cities send out this information via Nixle or use other services. (Santa Rosa and Cotati use services other than Nixle).

Nixle is opt-in, which means you have to register for the service. SoCo Alert has access to information about residents from the utility companies so you may receive an alert even if you don’t register. Registering on SoCo Alert allows you to verify and customize the information they have for you and your address.

Both Nixle and SoCo Alert are geo-targeted but Nixle uses Zip Code while SoCo Alert uses your actual address and you can register multiple addresses.

For more information on various emergency related service, go to Sonoma County Emergency Services’s Get Ready page.

Correction

Yesterday’s Grateful in Graton story about hand-held radios accidentally went out under Laura’s byline. Obviously, the actual author was our Graton columnist, Dewey Watson. It’s been corrected online.

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