Mutual aid networks are being formed in the neighborhoods in Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Arlington, and other communities.
My Nextdoor account (https://nextdoor.com) is filling up with people offering help to others as MA goes into shut down. Pause….. and reset.
Cambridge Mutual Aid Network
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x_gLUobYEodWYI4VBAC1hhjv0imZvQiM-uEEDxyZ3oE/edit#
Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville (MAMAS) network
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1RtYZ1wc8jxcSKDl555WszWhQWlOlSkNnfjIOYV0wXRA/mobilebasic
Food for Free (for Cambridge and Somerville) volunteers
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSed0cSIoOc7-Fvoms3VHR1Lc44fjql-vTNknz_a-7T_sKDnrw/viewform
Boston Mutual Aid: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15GYuPYEzBk9KIyH3C3419aYxIMVAsa7BL7nBl9434Mg/edit?fbclid=IwAR0mMSlLIsk-ktSTWkNo-HE7alvIiIZ32g82QSstgdDmKMvrAJstNiMZLVk#gid=0
USBG Emergency Bartender Fund
https://www.usbgfoundation.org/beap?fbclid=IwAR1au4L49zAJON2l3H-wJdWuvgdBPsplryC2eArC4RL2SRnjWUfpG5NREBQ
from State Rep Denise Provost
“Help Feed Others: These three Somerville organizations need volunteers to help distribute food during this emergency. All three food service organizations are practicing COVID-19 safety, which requires more volunteers than usual:
SOMERVILLE FOOD SECURITY CONNECTION
http://somervillefoodsecurity.org/get-involved/
Contact: Lisa Brukilacchio at lbrukilacchio@challiance.org
FOOD FOR FREE
Food For Free ( https://foodforfree.org/ ) is mobilizing a volunteer team via the google form below. They will be in touch with interested folks regarding opportunities as they arise:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSed0cSIoOc7-Fvoms3VHR1Lc44fjql-vTNknz_a-7T_sKDnrw/viewform
PROJECT SOUP
Project Soup ( https://www.somervillehomelesscoalition.org/food-security/ ) is looking for volunteers to help at its community food center, and its food bank. It could also use assistance with toiletry drives, including diapers. Please contact: Ben at bwyner@shcinc.org or djacobs@shcinc.org or phone 617-776-7687.”
These mutual aid networks are probably happening around your neighborhood too.
My notes on Rebecca Solnit’s A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster, which shows how people often respond to emergency and disaster through mutual aid and community support but that “elite panic” is a term of art in disaster studies, are available at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2016/07/notes-on-rebecca-solnits-paradise-built.html
