About Us
Angry Ants Community Chest is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that exists to bridge the gaps in support for members of our communities who experience temporary hardship where assistance is unavailable elsewhere. We believe that the many can work together to do more with less than any one can do alone.
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We are funded by the Angry Ants' board, their extended communities and generous sponsors to benefit the members of our communities when they need support most. You can read more of our story and how we got the name "Angry Ants" below!
Our Story
Where did the name "Angry Ants" come from anyway?
We get that question a lot!
Shannon here. I’m the founder of Angry Ants and you can read more about me below, but I want to tell you a story about how the name "Angry Ants Community Chest" presented itself to me.
For those who know me personally, you will already know that I have spent most of my adult life trying to find new and creative ways to help people. I have an entrepreneurial spirit and I draw inspiration from the world around me. I once created a business focused mastermind called “The Hive” modeled largely after my obsession with bees and the way they function seamlessly in nature to create the most incredible product while spreading much needed resources throughout the ecosystems they are a part of; I regularly make connections in the form of simple metaphors to help people understand complex concepts.
One chilly morning in early November 2024, with widespread sadness and disappointment lingering thick in the air around me, I was walking my son, 8 at the time, to the bus stop when he paused to observe a line of ants marching across our gravel driveway on the way to their home that appeared to have been damaged by an animal overnight. He then asked a question that rocked me to my core and would reveal the obvious name for the nonprofit organization I had been quietly preparing to launch for months - a “Community Chest” of sorts that a whole bunch of us to could contribute to little by little so that when one of us had a need, the resources would already be available to them.
He asked “Why is it that when an anthill gets destroyed, the ants get really mad about it but then they just go back to building?”
I thought about it for a moment, understanding that I would only have his attention for a few minutes before his light speed brain moved on to something new, and I countered with a question,
“Well, how would you feel if you worked really hard building something and someone came along and broke it?”
He responded, “I would be angry and frustrated and sad.”.
I probed further, “So what if that thing was your home and you had nowhere else to go? It would make sense to feel all of those things, but ultimately, you would have to get back up and rebuild so that you had somewhere to live, right?”
He answered, “Well, yeah, but I’d still be really mad about it!”, to which I responded, “Of course you would! And that’s okay! You can be mad and still move forward.”
And I immediately knew in that moment that the name for the Community Chest had found itself, because although culturally we try to push down and hide big feelings like anger, many a revolution has been fueled by righteous anger at the injustices we face. It is often the catalyst that propels societies forward. What we know at Angry Ants is that many things can be true at the same time. You can be sad and still show up. You can be frustrated and still move forward. You can be angry WHILE building.
When we look around, it’s easy to see hundreds of reasons that could discourage us from taking action. It can all feel too overwhelming to even think about making an impact. That’s why we don’t do it alone. Rebuilding an anthill would be an insurmountable task for one tiny ant, but with the support of hundreds or thousands of other ants, they can collectively do in one day what one alone could never accomplish in a lifetime.
