WHO
WE ARE
PROGRAMS & PROJECTS.
Mission
By using art as a healthy outlet, first responders are given space to process the trauma they are regularly exposed to—allowing them to reset, recharge, and return refreshed to continue serving our communities. Through creativity, we help raise awareness around the unseen challenges they face while offering a constructive way to carry the weight of the job.
Our current programs center on community art shows that bring first responders, their families, and local communities together. Built from the ground up, these experiences are designed to strengthen local connections, foster understanding, and create meaningful support where it’s needed most.
Local Events
We host community-based art shows and gatherings that bring first responders, their families, and neighbors together. These events create space for connection, conversation, and creative expression — helping reduce isolation while strengthening local support networks.
Awareness
Through art and storytelling, The Outlet helps shine a light on the often unseen challenges first responders face. Our programs foster understanding, open dialogue, and compassion — encouraging communities to recognize the real impact of the job beyond the uniform.
Community
The Outlet is built around connection. By creating inclusive spaces where first responders and families feel understood and supported, we help build stronger communities from the ground up — rooted in empathy, shared experience, and mutual care.
Meet the Team
The Outlet is built by first responders and the people who support them—artists, families, and community allies—using art to foster connection, understanding, and healing.
Founder & Artist
Anthony Santos
Anthony Santos is a firefighter, artist, and founder of The Outlet, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting first responders’ mental health through healthy outlets. He held his first art show at 14 and has exhibited internationally in seven countries. Since becoming a firefighter in 2011, Anthony has leaned on art—along with backpacking, jiu jitsu, surfing, skateboarding, and fishing—as ways to stay grounded through life’s challenges. Family is everything to him, and his mission is to inspire fellow first responders to prioritize wellbeing on and off the job.
Founder & Artist
Manwell Gali
Manwell Gali is a firefighter in Richmond, California, a U.S. Army 101st Airborne Infantry veteran, a husband, and a father of two. He is also a multidisciplinary metal artist and designer based in the Bay Area.
Through firsthand experience in emergency response and military service, Manwell understands the mental and emotional weight carried by first responders. His creative work—spanning metal fabrication, CNC and laser work, graphic and spatial design—serves as a healthy outlet for processing stress and staying grounded.
As a co-founder of The Outlet, Manwell helps create space for expression, community, and connection beyond the uniform.
Head of Media & Content
Ben Hoedt
Ben leads content and media for The Outlet, using storytelling and visual work to help raise awareness around the emotional weight first responders carry. With a background in creative production and media, he focuses on honest stories that build connection and understanding.
Surfing and jiu jitsu are his personal outlets, practices that keep him grounded and aligned with the mission of showing up fully, every day.
