The Brief

Orange County’s elected treasurer was found to have thrown office keys at a subordinate out of anger, according to an investigation county officials commissioned and funded. The report, from 2022, was obtained by LAist through a records request. Its findings were not known to county supervisors until recently.

A secretary who witnessed the incident quit her job the same day as a result, according to the report, which found the September 2021 incident was a likely violation of workplace violence policies.

It’s one of numerous complaints of mismanagement against O.C. Treasurer-Tax Collector Shari Freidenrich, including employee allegations documented by investigators that she’s been an “extreme micro-manager,” and allegations from the county chief executive that she has been late in pursuing $36 million in property taxes owed to the county.

O.C. supervisors now say these findings and other concerns were behind their unusual decision late last year to yank Friedenrich’s authority to oversee the investment of $17 billion in taxpayer dollars. Until recent days, they weren’t telling the public why Friedenrich — who was first elected in 2010 and has run unopposed since — had lost that authority.

Board members addressed the situation at this week’s regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday and released a “fact sheet” from the county CEO’s office detailing allegations. That includes investigators’ findings that Friedenrich ran a department with a “highly charged atmosphere of mistrust, suspicion and the belief that Freidenrich has engaged in demeaning, condescending and unfair behavior.”

How we got here

LAist reached out to all five supervisors for comment after receiving public records documenting the investigation, an employee survey critical of her leadership and complaints in a resignation letter by a high-ranking executive under her. Supervisor Janet Nguyen did not respond before publication.

Supervisors Katrina Foley and Vicente Sarmiento told LAist that the board pulled back Freidenrich’s authority to invest after a meeting last fall where Foley and Supervisor Don Wagner heard directly from department employees alleging that Freidenrich created a hostile work environment for her department’s staff.

“ The level of toxicity that the employees uniformly shared was alerting,” Foley said of concerns she says she heard directly from employees.

That fall 2024 meeting was the first time Foley learned of the key-throwing incident, she told LAist.

During that meeting, Foley said, the employees also told her Freidenrich’s behavior was causing widespread problems, including delays in cashing checks, a lack of training for new employees and delays in collecting $36 million owed to the county in unpaid property taxes. The alleged collection delays were in filing liens that pressure owners to pay overdue taxes, and in auctioning off properties with long-overdue tax bills.

Additionally, Foley said Freidenrich missed an important deadline to list county assets, a failure she said caused the auditor-controller to be late on the county’s comprehensive annual financial report — one of the county’s most important financial filings. These delays, Foley said, were of concern because they put at risk the county's credit rating and had the potential to delay state and federal funding if the CEO and CFO had not intervened to get the report done.

The list of allegations against Freidenrich were shared in a document prepared by the office of Michelle Aguirre, the county’s chief executive. The document, which is labeled as a “fact sheet,” was distributed to the press by Foley this week.

In a statement to LAist on Wednesday, Freidenrich said, “These allegations claim to create a pretext for disrupting my honest, ethical and effective stewardship of $17 billion in public funds.”

The allegations and Freidenrich’s response

Regarding the alleged delays in filing liens to collect property tax, Freidenrich wrote to LAist that her office has the highest collection rate in the state for the largest type of property tax. She pointed to state data, which show Orange County ranks fourth among California's 58 counties in total property tax collections. She also said that it is not cost-effective to hold annual auctions of properties whose tax bills are years overdue, another issue raised in the county CEO’s allegations. The CEO’s document says Freidenrich hasn’t held an auction since 2021, causing the county to miss out on $4.4 million.

When LAist asked Freidenrich about the allegations of a hostile work environment, including the key-throwing incident, she said: “There has never been any findings of this type of environment related to my management by the County, who investigated some isolated incidents based on allegations several years ago.”

In a written statement to LAist, Freidenrich said the key-throwing incident was due to her being a “klutz.” She said she “tripped on the way to the door to give the staff the keys. The keys flew out of my hands.”

When Freidenrich spoke to investigators in spring 2022, she also told them she tripped and the keys fell out of her hand. The investigators did not find her account credible, stating in their report: “The evidence supports a finding that Freidenrich intentionally threw keys.”

Freidenrich also told LAist she has never previously heard a complaint of lack of staff training. Gaps in employee training were mentioned in a 2021 county performance audit of her department — a finding she provided a written response to at the time — as well as in a union summary of an employee survey it conducted later that year.

Asked for comment, the county CEO’s office said Freidenrich’s comments didn’t address the specific complaints LAist was reporting on.

“The Treasurer-Tax Collector’s responses appear to deflect rather than respond to the specific questions asked by the LAist,” said a statement Wednesday from the office.

“The CEO’s office has been working since 2017 to address long-standing and pervasive issues with the Treasurer-Tax Collector that has been thoroughly vetted in our eight-page fact sheet that we provided to the Board of Supervisors prior to yesterday’s Board meeting,” the statement read.

“Through the PRA process, media outlets have also received reports that further illustrate a long-standing pattern of dysfunction that have caused harm to the department and the employees who work there.”

Public comments from supervisors this week

Orange County Civic Center

(

Yusra Farzan

/

LAist

)

County supervisors discussed concerns about Freidenrich at their regular board meeting on Tuesday in Santa Ana.

“ I do not ... relish bringing these items up in a public setting, which show the mismanagement and improper behavior of the Treasurer Tax Collector,” Doug Chaffee said. Chaffee declined to respond to LAist's separate requests for comment.

“But the board cannot simply sit idly by while a county elected department creates an environment which is ripe for fiscal mismanagement, plus the welfare and well-being of our county employees being put at risk.”

Supervisor Wagner, who also declined to respond to LAist, said at Tuesday's meeting that he and Foley first learned of the scale of alleged mismanagement when they met last fall with a dozen high-level employees who work for Freidenrich.

“They were telling us stories that were hair curling about that office. And that's what finally prompted us to act,” Wagner said, referring to the board’s decision to yank the investment authority from Freidenrich.

About the treasurer’s department

Freidenrich oversees a staff of dozens who collect about $9 billion each year in property taxes, according to state data. She also serves as the banker for public school and community college districts and the county government.

And until the end of last year, she oversaw the $17 billion investment pool for taxpayer funds held by the county, school districts and community college districts. That’s the only part of her job the supervisors can take away, because the rest of her duties are assigned to her under state law as an elected official, according to the county CEO’s office. She remains responsible for the duties assigned to her by law, including collecting taxes, a spokesperson for the CEO’s office said.

When she was elected in 2010, she jumped from managing fewer than 10 full-time staff as Huntington Beach’s elected treasurer to overseeing about 100 employees at the county in her first year, according to data published by the state.

A county spokesperson told LAist that a professional coach was hired to work with Freidenrich when the investigation report was completed in 2022. The county paid $2,200 for the coaching, she said, and also over recent years provided additional internal coaching by Colette Farnes, the county’s HR director, and Michelle Aguirre, the interim county CEO.

Details of the workplace violence investigation

The probe into Freidenrich’s department was conducted by a law firm the county hired following complaints from employees “of abusive conduct and retaliation” by Freidenrich. The report — dated April 29, 2022 — is marked “confidential.” LAist obtained it earlier this month from the CEO’s office through a public records request, citing court precedent requiring release of such investigation reports.

“The allegation that Freidenrich threw office keys at [employee name redacted], in violation of the County's Workplace Violence Prevention Policy, is SUBSTANTIATED,” states the report.

A temporary secretary quit the day of the incident because of Freidenrich’s actions, according to the report, citing testimony by Freidenrich and a witness.

Other employees corroborated the key-throwing incident, according to the report, and investigators did not find Freidenrich to be credible in claiming the keys accidentally flew out of her hands.

The investigation report also stated that among employees there is a belief that “Freidenrich has engaged in demeaning, condescending, and unfair behavior. Complainants contend that Freidenrich created this situation through conduct that is punitive, abusive, and belittling, and that Freidenrich excessively monitors and micromanages employees, thus resulting in a chilling effect on the entire workplace.”

The report states that the evidence supports many complaints from staff “regarding Freidenrich’s condescending behavior and occasionally demeaning conduct, as well as the excessive micromanaging.”

A few weeks after the investigation report, the county’s human resources director noted the findings in a “cease-and-desist” letter to Freidenrich.

“The independent investigator’s findings raise serious concerns about your treatment of Treasurer-Tax Collector employees,” wrote Farnes, the human resources director.

“Physical violence in a County workplace will not be tolerated,” Farnes added.

“As the County’s Chief Human Resources Officer, I am obligated to instruct you to cease and desist from any and all verbal or physical conduct that violates County policy,” she continued. “As an elected Department Head, it is your duty to provide a safe, healthy, and positive working environment for the County’s employees assigned to you.”

Freidenrich told LAist that she disagreed with the investigation’s findings “but accepted it, retained an executive coach and moved on.”

“Taxpayers expect me to do my official duties in a common-sense, efficient and cost-effective manner and to keep public funds safe …” she added, “from time to time, over the past 14 years, I have had to hold some [department staff members] accountable to ensure that the processes in the office are meeting the high standards expected by taxpayers.”

The records the county disclosed to LAist, which include the employee survey and performance audit, show numerous other allegations of mismanagement by Freidenrich in recent years. One is a resignation letter from early 2024 by a high-ranking executive. She alleged that Freidenrich caused high turnover in the department through a “dysfunctional organizational culture.”

The letter was written by Jennifer Burkhart, who resigned in January 2024. She wrote that Freidenrich’s “obsessive micromanagement, paranoia, dishonesty, and bullying” and “disregard for County employees” made for an unhealthy work environment. She added that these issues and Freidenrich’s “unrealistic expectations of perfection and continual criticism” contributed to high turnover within the department.

Concerns about high turnover were also separately highlighted by the county audit and employee survey.

The audit found that Freidenrich’s department had a “significantly higher” share of employees leave their jobs compared to other departments, resulting in a higher workload for remaining staff. About one-third of all staff left the department in 2019, the report found.

Later that year, an Orange County Employees Association survey of 30 employees found that Freidenrich was overly involved in low-level work processes and caused inefficiencies within the department, according to a report summarizing the responses. Employees surveyed by the union said processes and directions changed often. In the survey, employees used words like “Toxic,” “Unhealthy,” “Hostile” and “Fearful” to describe the department’s culture.

Why is the board taking more action now?

Despite the investigation report being provided to the county HR director in spring 2022, two county supervisors told LAist they only learned of it toward the end of 2024.

Sarmiento told LAist that employee concerns about a hostile work environment compelled him to “ reconsider” Freidenrich’s authority over the investment pool.

The board voted in late December to not renew Freidenrich’s investment authority starting in the new year. At that point, Sarmiento said he was aware of general information about challenges at the department — “ the turnover rates, some of the employee comments. But I didn't know with specificity what some of the specific incidents were.”

Since then, Sarmiento said, he has learned more details from the CEO’s office.

Foley said she and other supervisors learned of the mismanagement allegations against Freidenrich last fall at the same time they were learning of problems with former Supervisor Andrew Do’s handling of taxpayer dollars. Do pleaded guilty in October to a bribery scheme to steal millions of dollars meant to feed needy seniors, following an LAist investigation and federal probe.

“ One of the cultural shifts that's happening on the Board of Supervisors is to do away with what I think has been a historical failure to take into consideration employee complaints,” Foley said. “We are no longer allowing those complaints to just sit to the side and be ignored.”

The board, she said, will now take action on staff complaints so issues don’t fester and become a scandal.

“ It's a new board, a new CEO, new management,” she said when asked why it took so long for the board to be alerted. “All I can do is move forward.”

Even so, Foley said the Board of Supervisors is responsible for monitoring Freidenrich’s actions as a county official.

“ We have a legal duty to supervise the official conduct of all county officials, including the county treasurer,” she said. “And this is as it relates specifically to functions and duties of county officers relating to assessing, collecting, safekeeping, management, or disbursement of public funds.”

The shadow of a painful history

The board’s supervision of the treasurer position — or the lack thereof — has been the subject of controversy in the past.

In the 1990s, two of the then-supervisors were indicted by a grand jury for failing to properly safeguard public funds handled by former O.C. Treasurer Bob Citron. His high-risk investments lost $1.6 billion in O.C. taxpayer dollars and prompted the largest local government bankruptcy in U.S. history up to that point.

The county’s 1994 bankruptcy prompted slashes to programs for people in need, including canceling half of the county’s contracts with therapists serving thousands of families at risk of child abuse, the New York Times reported at the time.

An appeals court later dismissed the indictments against the supervisors, but the memory of the bankruptcy lives on.

“ We've seen — many, many years ago — predecessors of ours allow what turned out to be too much independence at the treasurer-tax collector role,” Wagner said during Tuesday’s board meeting.

“ We have suffered through some incredibly difficult and painful lessons when the Board of Supervisors does not act quickly and decisively  when exercising our authority as it relates to public finance,” Chaffee said.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Just inches away from where workers warm up handmade tortillas at Guisados in Pasadena, Pablomanuel Maldonado puts the finishing touches on different drinks before calling out to his customers.

“Provecho,” Maldonado, owner of coffee pop-up the Caffeinated Cart, says to each customer before quickly redirecting his attention to the next, treating each one like he’s known them for years.

Local taco chain Guisados partnered with the Caffeinated Cart to bring its coffee to the people of Pasadena in a space where Maldonado can chat up his customers and serve his Latino-inspired signature coffees. 

Nearly all of his drinks have names in Spanish, a nod to his Mexican roots. By far his best seller is the “Cereal Killer,” a cinnamon brown sugar latte with a cereal garnish, where customers can choose between Cocoa Puffs or Cap’N Crunch Crunch Berries. 

Pablomanuel Maldonado, owner of the Caffeinated Cart, prepares a Cereal Killer at Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.

(

Isaac Ceja

/

The LA Local

)

Though he’s only been operating at this location for the past three weeks, small touches — like Virgen de Guadalupe candles, a new coffee blend from local roaster Picaresca and a shiny new drink menu on the wall — make his corner of the restaurant feel welcoming.

“For the first time, I don’t feel tired. I feel mentally at peace, and it’s like, ‘Damn, this is what I love doing,’ you know?” Maldonado told The LA Local. “I get excited to come here. I get excited to get out of bed.” 

Maldonado recently transitioned from working full-time at Bristol Farms during the week and doing coffee pop-ups on weekends to serving coffee full-time at Guisados.

The Caffeinated Cart began in 2020 when Maldonado started selling bottled lattes in his hometown of Compton before eventually popping up at local markets like Angel City Market and the Beach Flea. 

Only a couple of years after he started, Maldonado was selling out at the pop-ups.  Today, he has over 23,000 followers on Instagram.

Maldonado’s partnership with Guisados began in 2025 via an Instagram story when owner Armando De La Torre Jr. put out a call for coffee pop-ups at his Guisados location in Long Beach. 

A photo illustration of the Caffeinated Cart’s most popular drink the Cereal Killer, a cinnamon brown sugar latte with a cereal garnish, at Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.

(

Isaac Ceja

/

The LA Local

)

After connecting with De La Torre, Maldonado began popping up outside the Long Beach location for six months. But Maldonado said permitting issues with the city’s Health Department forced him to stop. 

Nearly a year after their initial collaboration, De La Torre invited Maldonado to Pasadena to show off the space he had in mind for him, but the Caffeinated Cart owner had mixed emotions. 

Maldonado was concerned about going to Pasadena and leaving behind the community and regular customers he had in Long Beach, but he was excited by the idea of finally having a physical space, even if it wasn’t completely his own.

Pablomanuel Maldonado, owner of the Caffeinated Cart, hugs his former boss who visited him at his new coffee residency at Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.

(

Isaac Ceja

/

The LA Local

)

“We’re in a world where… everybody gatekeeps and then everybody stops each other from growing, and coffee’s been so welcoming, man,” Maldonado said. “The community I’ve built around me has just been so welcoming, and a lot of people just truly do trust us.”

Leo Abularach, co-owner of Picaresca in Boyle Heights, has been a longtime supporter of the Caffeinated Cart. He told The LA Local that he loaned Maldonado over $3,000 worth of equipment to help him get started. Abularach even let him use his business delivery service, so Maldonado would no longer have to run to the store for things like extra milk.

“He has always been there for Picaresca. He is part of our family,” Abularach said of Maldonado. “He is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and I think his personality is one of the reasons why people love the Caffeinated Cart.”

Pablomanuel Maldonado, owner of the Caffeinated Cart, pours coffee beans into a grinder at Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.

(

Isaac Ceja

/

The LA Local

)

Customers Adriana Acevedo and Eilene Gonzalez saw the Caffeinated Cart on TikTok. When they realized it was around the corner from their workplace, they decided to give it a try.

“It’s amazing. It tastes really good. Like, no notes. Amazing,” Acevedo said after finally trying the coffee in real life on a recent Wednesday morning. 

“Yeah, for first timers, now I think we’re going to be returners,” Gonzalez added with a laugh. 

Pablomanuel Maldonado, right, talks with customers Adriana Acevedo, left, and Eilene Gonzalez, centert, at the Caffeinated Cart inside of Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.

(

Isaac Ceja

/

The LA Local

)

The two praised the welcoming service offered by Maldonado, and after Acevedo mentioned she loves caffeine, Maldonado even gave her an additional shot.

“I’m all about making it affordable. I don’t charge extra for alternative milks. You want extra shots? Bro, get extra shots. I’m not going to charge you extra,” Maldonado said. 

“We’re all for the people,” he said. “We want to make sure people can still come back and not have to feel like ‘Was the $7 coffee worth it?’”

Though it was only a Wednesday, customers kept trickling in, keeping him busy throughout his shift, and even Maldonado’s old boss from Bristol Farms, Dina Urquilla, came to support. 

Maldonado said he’s still saving to open up his own shop in the future, but for now, he says he looks forward to making coffee every day in his corner of Pasadena.

A view of some of the trinkets at the Caffeinated Cart inside of Guisados in Pasadena, Calif. on Mar. 4, 2026.

(

Isaac Ceja

/

The LA Local

)

Warm temperatures are on tap again today as we head into a toasty weekend with temps set to reach the triple digits in desert communities.

L.A. County beaches will see daytime highs from 67 to 72 degrees. It'll be between 69 and 76 degrees along the Orange County coast. More inland areas like downtown L.A., Hollywood and Anaheim will see temperatures from 75 to 81 degrees.

Meanwhile, the valleys will see varying temperatures. Areas closer to the coast will see highs from 78 to 83 degrees, and further inland, temps will stay in the upper 80s, up to 89 degrees.

Meanwhile in Coachella Valley, temperatures will rise to 101 to 106 degrees.

Looking ahead to the weekend, the valleys will reach the 90s for Mother's Day, up to 100 degrees in the Antelope Valley too. Come Sunday, an Extreme Heat Warning kicks in for the Coachella Valley, where temperatures will stay in the low 100s, with up to 109 degrees possible. Make sure to stay hydrated!

Jessica Wang has experienced delay after delay for nearly two years as she tried to open Gu Grocery in Chinatown. Her father, a contractor, had told her it would take nine months.

Instead, she says, there have been issues with city permits, inspectors, inaccurate information, illness and wayward appliance installers which have pushed things back.

The community didn't take nearly as long. In two weeks, 134 donors contributed nearly $12,000 to keep Wang afloat. But money can't solve her problem — she still needs the city's approval to open the doors.

Wang signed the lease at the end of 2023, envisioning a Chinese-Taiwanese grocery store and community hub where seniors could use EBT to buy fresh tofu, where kids from nearby elementary schools could stop by after class, and where her mother, Peggy, could teach neighbors how to make their grandmother's pickles.

Now, more than two years into a five-year lease, and nearly out of money after paying for permits, buildout, and rent on a space she can't operate, Wang launched a GoFundMe campaign a few weeks ago. The response showed the community believes in Gu Grocery and wants to see it succeed. But she's still waiting for at least seven final inspections by the city before she can open.

The story of Gu

The name "Gu" carries layered meaning: the character 菇 means "mushroom" in Chinese, a traditional symbol of prosperity, while the sound "gu" also means "auntie" in Mandarin — honoring intergenerational caretakers. Wang's mission for the space is to provide a place to purchase Chinese-Taiwanese pantry staples and prepared foods, and to host community workshops.

The communal aspect is central to Wang's vision of social entrepreneurship, not solely focused on profit. In addition to workshops, Gu Grocery plans to accept EBT and offer senior discounts for those on fixed incomes.

"I wanted a space where I could share knowledge and share culture and also just learn from the community," Wang said.

Ultimately, she hopes to convert the store into a worker-owned co-op.

Wang grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and worked as a pastry chef at San Francisco's State Bird Provisions before a pre-diabetic diagnosis at age 29 prompted her return to L.A. She began volunteering with API Forward Movement, a local nonprofit focused on health equity and food access in AAPI communities, and saw firsthand the need during COVID food distributions at L.A. State Historic Park.

Chinatown had lost its last two full-service grocery stores in 2019. Last fall, the neighborhood lost another: Yue Wa Market, a small produce shop that had served residents for 18 years before rising rent and pandemic losses forced it to shut its doors. The closures hit especially hard in a neighborhood where, according to American Community Survey data, half of the residents are low-income and one in five are seniors 65 and older — many of whom rely on walking to shop.

Jessica Wang (center, in black) and her mother Peggy (left, in white and red) smile while serving customers at a farmer's market pop-up for Gu Grocery.

(

Daniel Nguyen

/

Courtesy Gu Grocery

)

Permitting woes

Much of bringing Gu Grocery to reality has been made possible by support from Wang's friends and family. Her father, Willie Wang, serves as her general contractor. When plans were submitted to the city in March 2024, he told her the buildout would take nine months if everything went smoothly.

Instead, she’s experienced delays from all directions, from slow bureaucracy, to issues with contractors. A hood installation contractor rescheduled multiple times, she said, then doubled his price the day before a rescheduled appointment. Drywall contractors said their workers had been detained by ICE and never returned.

The process hasn't just taken time — it's been expensive. One inspector approved a makeup air unit for the kitchen hood system, she said, only to have a senior inspector overturn the decision and order a complete replacement at nearly $6,000. Her father paid out of pocket — even as he was recovering from March surgery to remove a cancerous lung growth.

"Who would have thought that something an inspector asked us to do would be completely overturned by another inspector?" Wang said. "That's just so wild."

LAist has reached out to the city's Department of Building Services for comment but has not heard back.

The financial toll

Wang estimates she's spent more than $200,000 so far — more than $100,000 on buildout and permits alone, plus a full year of rent on a space she can't operate, equipment, insurance and taxes.

She draws no income from Gu Grocery. To cover personal expenses, she teaches fermentation workshops through her other business, Picklepickle, though that work has been inconsistent lately. Her health insurance doubled this year. The GoFundMe money, she said, is a "rainy day fund" in case she needs it to pay future bills.

The financial strain has touched her entire family. Her mother, who received a small inheritance when Wang's grandparents died, got scammed late last year trying to grow that money to help with the store. Targeted through online ads, she was convinced by an "investment tutor" based in Taiwan to hand over cash to a stranger in a parking lot.

"I didn't realize this would become part of what it's like to have aging parents in the age of technology," Wang said. "But it's scary how they get targeted."

Black sesame noodles from Gu Grocery's popup menu. Wang uses black sesame for higher nutritional value and plans to offer the dish as one of the prepared foods when the store opens.

(

Aunty J

/

Courtesy Gu Grocery

)

Rice balls with house pickles from a Gu Grocery pop-up. Wang has been teaching fermentation and pickling workshops for 15 years and plans to serve pickles alongside all meals when the store opens.

(

Aunty J.

/

Courtesy Gu Grocery

)

Addressing Chinatown's needs

Once Gu Grocery opens, it won't operate as a full-service market — there won't be a meat counter. Instead, it will function like a corner store with a focus on healthy prepared foods: butter mochi, sesame noodles and daily congee.

"Something that Chinatown has never had was prepared food that is EBT eligible," Wang said.

In 2020, Wang surveyed seniors through API Forward Movement's Tai Chi fitness program to understand their shopping habits following the closure of local grocery stores. Many told her they now ride the bus to Super King on San Fernando Road in Glendale, nearly 5 miles away, for produce deals, or rely on family members to drive them to 99 Ranch in Alhambra. Some grow their own food in gardening plots, Wang said, "but they can't produce everything they need."

Willie Wang (left), Jessica Wang (center), and Peggy Wang (right) pose inside Gu Grocery. The signs display the store's values in both English and Chinese — Willie's reads "body health" and Peggy's reads "mushroom auntie," playing on the dual meaning of "gu."

(

Daniel Nguyen

/

Courtesy Gu Grocery

)

The community response

When she launched her Go FundMe in mid-April, she was overwhelmed by the response. "I have a hard time asking for help," said Wang. "So actually receiving help, it's very moving."

The donors range from former pop-up customers and friends to a range of assorted well-wishers — a musician who had her food once at an event, fellow food business owners, farmer's market regulars and even her insurance agent.

"The generosity is beyond my expectations," Wang said. "Some of these people only had my food once. People are showing their support truly in a personal way and really believing in the vision."

The GoFundMe money helps Wang stay "afloat for now," but she's had to rethink her opening strategy. She won't be able to afford full inventory when she opens. Instead, she plans a phased opening: prepared foods only, served through a takeout window, then using revenue to slowly stock shelves with the retail items she originally envisioned.

The community raised more than $14,000 in three weeks. After nearly two years of delays, Wang is still waiting for permits. She hopes to open by Father's Day — her general contractor dad's birthday. But she's learned to expect the unexpected.

Many donors sent her direct messages saying simply: "We got this, Jess, we got you."