In The News

A few years ago, Melissa Holguin Pineda decided to spend a summer in Seattle with her cousin. She brought a duffel bag, the clothes she was wearing and little else to a place that was almost entirely new to her. She wanted to connect with the unfamiliar city, and her cousin pointed her to something that essentially furnished her entire apartment in Green Lake: a Buy Nothing group.

‘There’s no better way to show people that they can have an influence in someone else’s life’

On April 14, Ana Patricia Non put out a small bamboo cart along Maginhawa Street in Quezon City filled with canned goods, fresh vegetables, vitamins, facemasks, and other necessities amid the pandemic. At the top of the cart was a handwritten sign on cardboard, “Maginhawa Community Pantry. Take what you need. Give what you can.”

Need someone to walk your dog after you broke your ankle?

A dog-less neighbor might love to help. Or maybe you need clothes for a newborn baby. A mother down the street surely has items her toddler has outgrown. Using a philosophy known as mutual aid, Lansing residents are creating groups to set up those types of exchanges.

As the COVID-19 pandemic still has the world in its clutches and continues to upend so many people’s lives, a new group has formed to assist those in need.

When a deadly winter storm this February left more than four million people in Texas without power, nearly 15 million without clean water, and 111 people killed, Secunda Joseph sought refuge in her cousin’s Houston home.

We can start by creating systems of collective care that make the sharing of social capital and resources the norm.

Sharifah Taylor had all but given up on getting a COVID-19 vaccine. She had a frustrating time trying to book an appointment online, repeatedly confronted with a blank white screen instead of a confirmation.

Mutual-aid groups are helping Americans envision communities that meet everyone’s needs.

When the Coronavirus pandemic reached Alaska in the spring of 2020, Sitka responded quickly. Within days, residents were pooling efforts to support each other. Chandler O’Connell, with the Sitka Conservation Society, joined KCAW’s Erin Fulton for the March 17 Morning Interview to discuss the work the Sitka Mutual Aid Network has done over the last year, how the organization has evolved, and what resources continue to be available in 2021.

When the pandemic increased food insecurity, people set up refrigerators to provide free food to neighbors

As need for food and basic supplies has dramatically increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago, a number of different mutual aid organizations across South Jersey have risen to the occasion to help their neighbors in need.

Mutual aid groups, which have provided a crucial pandemic safety net, are evolving into a long-term effort to help with food, clothing and counseling. “It’s about building the world we want to see,” a volunteer said.

It starts with a phone call from the 707 area code. “Hello, my name is Damián Diaz. I’m calling on behalf of No Us Without You.”

Take what you need, and leave what you can—that’s the concept behind the growing movement of community fridges popping up in cities across the U.S. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has been increasing the pressure on individuals struggling with food insecurity, communities have turned to mutual aid as an important source of relief.

These activists stepped up for their communities during crises when government didn’t

Put your money (or groceries, spare time or supplies) where your mouth is.

Free goods and services distributed by mutual aid groups helped vulnerable New Yorkers survive 2020. As the pandemic eases, those organizations are more needed than ever.

After the pandemic hit a year ago, three sites for food sharing suddenly and inexplicably, or at least without fanfare or introduction, appeared in different directions within four blocks of my home in Ithaca’s Southside neighborhood.

Grand Junction Mutual Aid began its nonprofit in March 2020 right as the pandemic hit. On Tuesday, the organization celebrated its first anniversary of hosting weekly food distributions in the valley.

Throughout the pandemic, Mutual Aid Networks have been a big source of help for underserved communities in the tri-state area. Now, they’re working to get shots in the arms of the people who need it most.