WASHINGTON — We’ve seen it time and time again during times of crisis: communities rallying together. But in Wards 7 and 8, the concept of neighbors helping neighbors is a year-round effort.
DC Mutual Aid Network is a collection of organizations and individuals who pool their resources together to help their friends in need.
For the next two weeks, Mutual Aid volunteers are organizing food and toiletry drives and hope to continue their efforts as long as it is needed.
“We’ve been doing this for 7 years,” Organizer Fariha Huriya said. “So we’re in the habit of providing mutual aid and seeing all these amazing new people coming together and going it together gives you hope and it makes you ambitious. I don’t want to sound too ambitious, I just hope none of us get sick in the middle of doing all this work.”
The network’s hotline has been ringing off the hook with concerned folks who can’t get out of the house because of age or illness. Volunteers deliver items to them like groceries, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper.
“The need has been greater than we expected,” Huriya said. “Helping is how I’m coping,” Taylor Hall, who is answering the hotline calls, said. The Network still needs donations for the following items:
- Soap
- Toiletries
- Hand Sanitizer
- Disinfecting Products
- Cleaning Supplies
- Gloves
- Toilet Paper
- Facial Tissue
- Paper Bags
- Canned Good & Non-Perishable Food
Donations can be dropped off at any mutual aid sites listed below:
For more information, contact Klowery@blackswanacademy.org to request a pick-up or to get a mailing address.
Monetary donations can be made via: CashApp or Venmo to $blackswanacademy
