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Give Smart: Mutual aid and the significance of donating moving forward

Mutual aid is giving without an organization or 501 (c)(3) involved. This sort of giving was robust last year due to COVID-19 and George Floyd's death.

MINNEAPOLIS — Distinct neighborhoods are scattered throughout Minneapolis. If you zoom in on south Minneapolis, you'll find that pressed up to 35W with the borders of Lake Street, Chicago Ave. and 38th St. is the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization, or CANDO. It's led by Executive Director Pastor Carmen Means, Pastor C, for short.

"We by virtue of relationships find out what the needs of neighbors are," Pastor C said. She said they were busy last year providing mutual aid.  

Mutual aid is knowing your community and the people in it so deeply, neighbors take care of each other when a need arises. It's the idea of giving where you live without an organization or 501 (c)(3) involved. That sort of giving was robust last year, mostly because of the pandemic and the uprising following the killing of George Floyd.

"We did not show up as gatekeepers, we showed up really as brothers and sisters," Pastor C said. "We wanted to make space for those that had a need to feel comfortable to not even ask but feel comfortable to receive," she said.

Not much paperwork is involved to collect and dole out items like non-perishable food, laundry detergent, dish soap, or cash donations.

Pastor C says they gave $500 to needy families and more than $40,000 to businesses on their block! 

"I think this is our opportunity as well to rethink what safety looks like in the form of justice," Pastor C said. She said when we typically think about justice these days, that could be policing or our physical well being. 

"Well if one is not fed, they are still unsafe," Pastor C said. "If one is not housed, they are still unsafe as well," she said.

GiveMN is a platform in Minnesota that uses creative ways to ignite generosity and connect people with more causes. According GiveMN Executive Director Jake Blumberg, BIPOC communities in particular, have been doing mutual aid for centuries.

"What we’re really seeing here is that supporting one another doesn’t have to take one shape it can take so many different shapes and we can learn from one another from different communities of what supporting each other can look like," Blumberg said.

It could like the offices of the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization. That's west of CANDO. Pastor C says they teamed up with Corcoran last year, and eventually had to turn the office into a temporary emergency food shelf.

"I think these were moments that we had to fight for humanity in whatever way that he, she, they, them, I mean nothing even mattered at that moment besides 'how can I help?'" Pastor C said.

Pastor C said money is low now and the need is still great. She said that's not just in the CANDO neighborhood, but for many mutual aid organizations.

There is an online mutual aid map in the Twin Cities to find ways for you to help in your neighborhood. The Twin Cities Mutual Aid website shows almost 500 mutual aid sites broken down into what's open to receiving donations, open for distributing donations, open for both, or currently closed.

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