Mending Indigenous Spirits: one home for a Sonoma County nonprofit

Mending Indigenous Spirits is a Northern California nonprofit running recovery meetings, cultural events, an artisan market, trainings and a wellness team. All of that was already happening. It just had nowhere to live online.

I rebuilt their site so the whole range of the work sits in one place, on the phone, which is where most of their community finds them. I did it pro bono. I still run it.

Who arrives, and how

The organization supports relatives walking the Red Road and Wellbriety paths of recovery, survivors of domestic violence, unhoused relatives, youth and elders, families affected by Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons, and Two-Spirit relatives. People often come to it on a hard day. That set the tone for every decision after it. Calm, legible, quick to read on a phone held in one hand.

Structure before design

Seven programs with nothing holding them together. Any design I put on top would have made it worse, so I mapped the whole range first: Vision, Team, Events, Wellbriety meetings, Artisan Market, Shared Journeys, Trainings. The architecture is the reason it still isn't cluttered two years in.

The look

Deep charcoal grounds, teal and warm gold, serif headings that carry weight without raising their voice. I wanted the culture to live in the structure and the typography rather than sit on top as ornament.

How it's built

Next.js and TypeScript over a PostgreSQL database. Events, meetings and trainings are records, not pages anyone re-edits, so the organization adds to the site instead of redesigning it. There's an admin behind all of it, switched off at their request. They send me the news and I publish it.

What it has carried

The events hub ran their Protect Our Children youth design contest end to end, from the call for entries through to three winners in August 2026. The winners page and the campaign flyer went live the day the board approved them.

Still mine to look after

The work started in 2025, the rebuild launched in 2026, and I've kept it running since.

"Fred stepped up and took the initiative to clean up, rebuild, and reestablish our website. He brought a fresh perspective and created a more polished, welcoming, and well rounded face for our organization. His time, effort, and dedication have helped us present our work, vision, and services in a way that better represents who we are and the communities we serve."

"We are truly grateful for Fred stepping up and helping bring our website back to life."

Angelica Aviña, Board Chair, Mending Indigenous Spirits