Before Layla BenBrahim, '20, ‘23 MPH, headed back to the Black Rock Desert for Burning Man this year, she learned that something her camp had gifted the year before may have saved a life. 

Someone shared on Reddit that they received a naloxone kit from Dusty Dillas, the Burning Man camp BenBrahim helped create, and later used it to respond to an overdose on the playa. 

“We are passionate about access and support of harm reduction, reproductive supplies and just taking care of yourself,” Layla BenBrahim said.

For BenBrahim, accreditation and evaluation coordinator with the Nevada School of Public Health, the story captured why she and her friends began bringing public health resources to Burning Man. 

“Gifting is a big part of Burning Man culture,” BenBrahim said. “We wanted to gift our knowledge and passions of public health to the Burning Man community.” 

This year, Dusty Dillas is distributing approximately 600 kits, including harm reduction kits, period kits, safer sex kits and also sunscreen. 

Building a camp around community 

Dusty Dillas grew from a core group of six friends who attended the same schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. They began camping together in the Black Rock Desert in 2016, and BenBrahim attended her first Burning Man in 2018. 

The idea for an official camp took shape after a rain-soaked Burning Man in 2023. The difficult conditions made the group reconsider its infrastructure and think about what it could contribute to the larger community.

“We saw public health in action and the community coming together to make sure we were doing OK with the weather,” BenBrahim said.

In addition to their love of cooking and sharing food, several also have backgrounds in public health and health care. Dusty Dillas officially began in 2024.

Public health on the playa

The camp initially focused on harm reduction and menstrual health.

Harm reduction kits include two doses of naloxone, fentanyl and xylazine test strips and a CPR mask. Naloxone is supplied through the School of Public Health’s Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies, with support from the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.

Period kits include pads, tampons, bamboo personal wipes, hand sanitizer and resealable bags for packing out waste. BenBrahim purchases those supplies herself and seeks products that are nontoxic, environmentally sustainable and from minority-owned companies.

Since then, the camp has added safer sex kits with condoms and lubricant. And in 2025, Dusty Dillas began working with the Nevada Cancer Coalition to provide sunscreen to participants. 

“We are passionate about access and support of harm reduction, reproductive supplies and just taking care of yourself,” BenBrahim said.

Public health and Burning Man principles

BenBrahim sees a natural connection between public health and several of Burning Man’s 10 principles, including gifting, radical self-reliance, communal effort, civic responsibility, immediacy and leaving no trace.

"Radical self-reliance is closely tied to preparedness and arriving ready for the unpredictable conditions of the desert," she said. "Civic responsibility and communal effort are reflected in looking out for others, while leaving no trace means caring for the environment."

Immediacy can be even simpler: See something, do something.

That sense of preparedness was tested again during the 2025 camp build when severe weather moved in quickly. Camp members had to communicate and work together to safely take down much of the infrastructure they had just assembled.

A growing Wolf Pack presence

Dusty Dillas has expanded well beyond its original six members.

This year, nine of the camp’s 18 members are University of Nevada, Reno alumni. They include BenBrahim, who earned a bachelor’s degree in community health sciences in 2020 and an MPH in health administration and policy in 2023; Madalyn Larson, ‘21, ‘24 MPH, who earned a bachelor’s degree in community health sciences in 2021 and an MPH in social and behavioral health in 2024; Katie Brandon, who earned an MPH in epidemiology in 2023; and Carissa Pearce, who earned an MPH in epidemiology in 2024.

Other camp members include a retired intensive care unit nurse, licensed social worker, cardiac medical device representative and mechanical engineer working on medical devices. Three members are attending Burning Man for the first time this year, while three others joined Dusty Dillas after meeting camp members at Burning Man last year.

For BenBrahim, welcoming new members marks another step in the camp’s growth and an opportunity to share the culture they have built around preparedness, participation and caring for others.

Two years after Dusty Dillas began distributing public health supplies, that effort has grown from a small camp project into hundreds of resources available to people across the playa.

And sometimes, as BenBrahim learned this year, the impact of one small kit can travel much farther than anyone expected.

Dusty Dillas can be found on Instagram.