
In mid-March, I reached out to offer my time by filling out
an online form to volunteer with a newly started Chicago mutual aid network. There
were over 400 people in my neighborhood, Logan Square, who also offered to lend
a hand. Given this massive interest, we created the hyper-local Logan Square
Mutual Aid. In less than two months, we are now part of a city-wide mutual aid
effort, organized neighborhood by neighborhood. With a
‘neighbor-helping-neighbor’ mentality, we are building an infrastructure that encourages
community members to play a role in fulfilling the essential needs created
during the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent shelter-in-place orders.
Q: What is the goal of your chapter?
To help people who are struggling during COVID. We focus on
helping the vulnerable – the elderly, the disabled, those with
immuno-deficiencies. Given this wide-reaching scope, we have several teams which
each focusing on specific community needs – including food, healthcare and
social work, to name a few. Everything from helping individuals get groceries,
to offering legal services to those who need assistance as tenants.
Q: What does your specific role look like?
I’m the food distribution coordinator. My role is to oversee
local business outreach to secure donations, track inventory, train volunteers,
and coordinate delivery of food boxes to individual and families. Primarily,
we’re collecting food during the week, then distributing on the weekends. We
recently secured a storage space with refrigerators and tables (a big win!),
and a few Chicago alderman have donated PPE to ensure we follow safety
protocol. As we grow, we plan to equip our space to handle larger donations and
more food deliveries.
We’ve partnered with Food Not Bombs, an organization that
works with the food service industry to collect what would otherwise be wasted
food. However, as many restaurants have closed, their normal supply chain has
been cut off. So we have been collaborating on best practices to secure
large-scale or ongoing food donations from Chicago businesses and residents. I
volunteered with them to learn their processes for sanitization, food packaging
and delivery During the pandemic, constant cleaning of supplies and hand
washing is essential. And, thanks to our collaboration, we were able to secure
the aforementioned storage space.
Q: How have you seen the ‘neighbor-helping-neighbor’
concept come to life?
It’s really a concept of ‘solidarity, not charity,’ which is
the cornerstone of the mutual aid movement. Some of the core values that we
model our structure on are engagement, transparency and self-determination. For
example, we have neighbors who are receiving groceries each week due to
economic hardship as a result of the pandemic. Simultaneously, these same individuals
also have cars or bikes and have volunteered their time and vehicles to deliver
groceries. We have had hundreds of individuals who have offered to buy
groceries for their neighbors out of their own pocket. We’re now obtaining the
funds to pay them back, but the selflessness and graciousness has been so
inspirational.
Q: What is the vision for Logan Square Mutual Aid looking
past the pandemic?
I definitely see our organization evolving to meet community
needs. Even after the virus is no longer an immediate threat, the economic
effect is going to be residual. I am honored to be surrounded by so many
intelligent, passionate people who are working together to build a grassroots,
community-driven organization that directly serves our neighborhood.
Thank you for all you do, both for your community and LCWA!
We’re excited to see our team making an impact.
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