There are a lot of ways to support the movement of grassroots, liberatory disaster relief, and there are so many communities experiencing acute crisis between climate disasters and COVID19. Additionally, disasters often take years to recover from and communities and local groups organizing recovery experience ongoing financial and material need for disasters that mainstream media consider old news.

Below are a few ways you can financially support these critical ongoing efforts:

SUPPORTING MUTUAL AID DISASTER RELIEF’S WORK

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief is a bottom-up, people powered, all volunteer network supporting impacted communities, especially those most marginalized, during crises. Mutual Aid Disaster Relief acts without bureaucracy or red tape and our flexible approach is able to make every dollar stretch to make the most positive impact in responding to the self-determined needs of disaster survivors. The principle of “solidarity, not charity” means that actions are based on the stated needs of the people themselves, working cooperatively rather than administering from above. Please consider donating generously in order to bring effective disaster relief based on the principles of solidarity, mutual aid, and autonomous direct action to even more communities impacted by disaster. Here are a few ways to support our work:

  • Donate to Mutual Aid Disaster Relief here to keep our work going with a one time or monthly recurring donation, powered and secured through Wepay. Or donate through Venmo (@MutualAidDisasterRelief) or PayPal ([email protected]).
  • Help us grow Mutual Aid Disaster Relief’s infrastructure for response by donating to our Mutual Aid Disaster Relief Infrastructure Campaign so, together, we can continue to build power while the lights are out from the ground up, and offer even more to communities struggling for a just recovery. This will help us get a vehicle, a solar trailer, an ambulance, or other things of that nature. 
  • Purchase personal protective equipment and other supplies that are needed by responders and survivors directly via our Louisiana Amazon Wishlist, or our Florida Amazon Wishlist
  • We also have a Puerto Rico Rebuilds Campaign for autonomous and sustainable infrastructure development in the form of water purification systems and photovoltaic solar arrays for Puerto Rico.
  • Another donation option is donating to our ongoing fundraiser for heating assistance during the winters for Lakota families on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
  • With many online opportunities to address people’s needs immediately and directly, we encourage people with access to wealth to support coronavirus impacted people directly if able. (See below). And if you cannot for whatever reason, we’re collecting funds here to support the network’s response to Coronavirus. Money from this fundraiser is being used to purchase bulk supplies, as well as support local COVID19 mutual aid efforts and organizers as they aid the most vulnerable communities and populations. We also have started a mask fundraiser to specifically gather donations to purchase bulk orders of masks and to support groups homemaking masks to distribute to the network of mutual aid groups providing frontline care to their communities.
  • Interested in making a large donation, a vehicle or real estate donation, or to leave us in your will? Email us at [email protected] and let us know what you have in mind and we can explore it further together!

A COPY OF MUTUAL AID DISASTER RELIEF OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE WITHIN THE STATE AT 1-800-HELP-FLA (435-7352), OR (850) 410 3800 CALLING FROM OUTSIDE OF FLORIDA, OR THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT’S WEBSITE AT WWW.800HELPFLA.COM REGISTRATION NUMBER CH49304. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE, NEITHER DOES IT IMPLY OUR ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL OR RECOMMENDATION OF THE STATE AND ITS INSTITUTIONS OF VIOLENCE, COERCION, AND HIERARCHICAL POWER.

There is a growing ecosystem of people-powered disaster relief efforts and mutual aid responses to crises. We consider these folks our extended family and encourage you to generously support these efforts for disaster preparation and relief that are rooted in justice, local relationships, and solidarity. 

SUPPORTING IMPACTED PEOPLE DIRECTLY

We encourage everybody to take initiative and respond to people’s needs directly. Sometimes people impacted by disasters need help with large expenses, such as paying medical bills, funeral expenses, finding a new home, keeping up with rent or utilities, or similar difficult circumstances, and could benefit from a more personal connection. Mutual aid is all about relationships! Are you down to pledge a certain amount of money for direct support, and be connected directly with an impacted individual or family to be a lifeline for them in a time of crisis? If yes, thank you so much! Please fill out this form and we will connect you to people who have reached out for this kind of support.

EFFORTS NEEDING IMMEDIATE SUPPORT

Winter Storm Uri and Texas Freeze

Our local mutual aid friends and partners in Texas have been hard at work meeting the needs of the people in Texas after historic cold weather, power outages, and lack of access to clean, drinking water. We strongly encourage you to financially support these local mutual initiatives that we consider our extended family:

Or purchase items directly through these Amazon Wishlists:

Hurricanes Eta and Iota

Honduras and Guatemala were hit hard back to back with Hurricanes Eta and Iota. Here are some movement aligned locally rooted relief efforts we encourage you to support:

Hurricanes Laura, Delta, and Zeta

Hurricane Laura was one of the most powerful storms to hit the Gulf region. Shortly afterwards, Hurricanes Delta and Zeta also hit Louisiana. We are currently collecting funds for these efforts through our general Mutual Aid Disaster Relief action network fundraiser. Our friends at SW Louisiana DSA also have a fundraiser for this response that we encourage you to support. As do our friends at Imagine Water Works. Here are a couple more Hurricane Laura grassroots efforts to consider supporting:

You are also welcome to purchase personal protective equipment and other supplies that are needed by responders and survivors directly via either of these Wishlists:

Hurricane Sally

Hurricane Sally dumped over two feet of rain in coast Alabama and the Florida panhandle, causing flooding in a number of areas. Here are some ways you can support current mutual aid efforts in this region:

Central Gulf Coast People’s Council Hurricane Sally Relief Gofundme

West Coast Wildfires

Wildfires are again raging throughout the West Coast, this time on top of a heat wave, blackouts, and a pandemic. Please consider supporting mutual aid fire relief efforts:

Or purchase supplies directly via this Oregon Amazon Wishlist.

Iowa Derecho
Iowa was devastated by a rare inland hurricane. And our mutual aid and movement friends are responding. Please support them as you are able:

Lebanon Explosion

On the afternoon of August 4th, 2020, two explosions occurred at the port of the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The second explosion was extremely powerful, and caused at least 200 deaths, 6,000 injuries, US$10–15 billion in property damage, and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless. Please consider supporting these local, grassroots, relief efforts:

Hurricane Hanna

RGV Mutual Aid relief fund serves to provide immediate financial assistance to those impacted by Hurricane Hanna. The Rio Grande Valley is currently battling two crises, hurricane season and the COVID-19 pandemic, and needs your support to provide financial relief to impacted people in Southeast Texas.

Donate here: http://tinyurl.com/rgvmutualaid

SUPPORTING COVID19 RESPONSE  

During the Coronavirus crisis, there has been an explosion of mutual aid groups. Click on one of these links if you can meet people’s needs directly:

We also encourage you to consider donating to and sharing these mutual aid fundraisers to support beautiful, inspiring, autonomous, and self-organized COVID-19 mutual aid projects:

OTHER ONGOING EFFORTS TO SUPPORT 

We’d like to highlight the following relief and recovery efforts that are in need of ongoing support:

Floods in Michigan

Widespread floods in and around Midland, Michigan have forced more than 10,000 people to evacuate. Conflated with the Coronavirus pandemic, the sheltering of evacuees and the upcoming clean up work will be an especially difficult challenge. Ensuring that people are provided with sanitation and cleaning supplies as well as proper PPE to protect them against both the hazards of clean up work as well as Coronavirus is essential. 

Proactive Community Initiative based in Saginaw has been organizing a mutual aid-based response to COVID19 and is now collecting and distributing aid across the affected areas. We really want to uplift their work and show solidarity with them. You can donate to:

  • PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8ooSaM7782
  • CashApp: $SistersUnited2016
  • By mail: Sisters United CCR LLC
    P.O Box 464
    Carrolton MI 48724

Puerto Rico

It’s been years since Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit Puerto Rico, but the work for a just recovery continues and earthquakes and the pandemic have disrupted the island’s ability to recover again. Consider supporting Brigada Solidaria del Oeste, or our extended family of Centros de Apoyo Mutuo throughout the island.

Nashville Tornados 

Deadly tornadoes hit Nashville and surrounding areas. Here are a few grassroots groups doing amazing work assisting with relief efforts:

Eastern Kentucky Floods

For Eastern Kentucky flood relief efforts, consider supporting our friends and partners: EKY & SWVA Flood Relief – On Venmo: @mutualaideky and on Paypal: [email protected]

Australia Fires

Looking for folks to support who are responding to the fires in Australia, check out Goongerah Survives.

Tropical Storm Imelda and Hurricane Harvey

Tropical Storm Imelda caused severe flooding in Eastern Texas, in many of the same places that Hurricane Harvey flooded just a couple years before. Here are some response efforts aligned with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief or autonomous, solidarity based efforts in the area more broadly:

—-

Thank you so much for your continued support and solidarity for decentralized, liberatory disaster response!