After the Department of Public Health left Zeitgeist no choice other than kicking the Tamale Lady to the curb, Supervisor Campos' staff scrambled to find Virginia Ramos a permanent home.  The result of that effort is now taking place in the form of a $155,000 Indiegogo fundraising campaign for a permanent shop.  The details:

Because Virginia has been saving money for the last 20 years she will be able to pay for the majority of the Tamale store. Supervisor Campos is helping her find a vacant store front but she will need $150,000 to help build out a commercial kitchen in her new restaurant.

If everyone in San Francisco who has eaten one of Virginia’s tamales donates what they are able we will help Virginia’s dream come true!

Unlike the usual form of gift-for-donation scheme employed by almost every other Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaign, there will no rewards, gift certificates, thank you notes, or other such alt ROI offered up—this is just a donation to Virginia's beloved tamale business coming from your heart (we can only assume Supervisor Campos' splashing of his name all over the fundraiser comes from the heart as well).  But, lest you forget forget who this is you're donating to, the campaign offers up a reminder:

In early 90s Virginia realized that her day job as a domestic worker cleaning houses was not earning enough money to send her 7 children to college.

Virginia learned to make Tamales from her Grandmother when she was growing up in Mexico – so to make extra money she began cooking tamales in her kitchen after her house cleaning work was done. During the evening she would fill an insulated cooler with her delicious tamales and travel from bar to bar selling a hot home cooked meals to hungry folks all over San Francisco.

Virginia is often referred to as an angel, a saint, or our Lady of the Tamales not just because she seems to miraculously appear when nightlife patrons need something to eat the most – but because she is known for her hugs, a shoulder to cry on, and her role as a surrogate grandmother to the people of the Mission – in fact she often wears a t-shirt that says “I don’t know you but I love you”.

[Indiegogo | Photo by Chris Brennan]