DECEMBER 2024
Vea el Despacho de diciembre en español.
View the December Dispatch in Spanish.
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The LISTINGS section of this Dispatch–a roundup of ways to contribute to LA's mutual aid efforts in the form of time, money and/or items as well as what resources each group offers–can be found by ⬇️ scrolling down ⬇️
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The Dispatch is Going Seasonal!
In 2025, the Dispatch team plans to publish seasonally (four times a year) instead of monthly. In the meantime, keep an eye on MALAN’s IG, where we will continue to amplify mutual aid projects and spread the word about calls to action happening year-round in LA. And of course, you can search and filter our brand-new directory anytime to find efforts in your neighborhood. Want to submit a group to be listed in the directory? Click here!
A FEW WORDS ON: MYCELIUM
There is a sense of comfort in having faith in the interconnectedness that orchestrates the seen and unseen—“As above, so below” (Emerald Tablet). But is that faith strong enough to withstand the debris crashing all around us as empires crumble? I urge you not only to look around but also below.
Buried deep in the soil lies a network: mycelium. An underground web of fungal threads that connects and supports plants and ecosystems by sharing resources and information across vast distances. They communicate through chemical signals, detect imbalances, and coordinate resource distribution where needed.
Above ground, we are consumed by burnout, fear, and loneliness, below, they persist. Even when the soil hardens, their work continues: feeding, connecting, and sustaining life. This network has survived and adapted for millennia because of its interconnectedness.
You, reader, are part of a network—even if you aren’t aware of it.
When greedy hands see beauty in nature, their urge is to possess it, even if it means killing it. They rip plants out gleefully, forgetting the roots. Forgetting how many stand shoulder to shoulder, intertwined, creating their own conditions to rise again—even when it seems “impossible.” They forget that roots don’t need permission.
Did you forget, too?
Written by Rose
FEATURED EFFORT: WESTWOOD MUTUAL AID
This May, after months of student repression—and the failure of the UCLA administration to divest from genocide and meet the needs of their students, alumni, and community members—SJP at UCLA launched People’s University for a Liberated Palestine (PULP) as a “place to foster our own learning and mutual support.” PULP was founded as a political education space, a way to redistribute and share resources, and a support space for those affected by the institutional violence of UCLA administrators.
After the encampments, some resources were left over and available to distribute. Westwood Mutual Aid (WMA) grew out of Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA with a vision to transform systems of care and work collectively to meet the basic needs of the Westwood community, while remaining independent from genocidal institutions.
A WMA Organizer told us that the group reflected on “how we can put all this into action here and how we can consolidate power and redistribute resources both in UCLA and the greater Westwood community…we believe that the political struggle against imperialist and capitalist structures is inextricably linked to the work of care. Just as it is our duty to fight, it is our duty to care for one another.”
Art builds, poetry, and reading circles are staple activities, but PULP primarily focuses on political education, discussions on anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism, teach-ins on past resistance movements, practical tools for safety and organizing, and of course, mutual aid.
In July, PULP hosted their first mutual aid distro, sharing hot meals, snacks, and clothes for unhoused folks, students, and staff.
Westwood Mutual Aid has since built upon this effort, setting up tables on the corner of Westwood and Le Conte Blvd every Friday to offer free food and water, harm reduction supplies, hygiene kits, books and art supplies, clothes and shoes, and a table for folks to dine at. The collective also runs grounds crews throughout Westwood, where they roll through with a wagon full of home cooked meals, water, hygiene items, and sleeping bags to meet folks where they're at.
What’s next for Westwood Mutual Aid? For starters, to expand their outreach routes beyond Westwood Village and into nearby neighborhoods in order to better reach folks impacted by daily encampment sweeps and Ordinance 41.18—which criminalizes sleeping or sitting on streets and sidewalks. They also want to incorporate more political education into Friday mutual aid, hoping to build solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and oppressed people at home and abroad.
WMA organizes around the fact that “the United States has systematically abandoned our communities at home to fund the z*onist state’s imperialistic genocide, destruction, and occupation of Palestine… the struggles of our community and those of Palestinians are intrinsically linked, purposefully induced to disenfranchise and destroy populations that challenge the states’ imperialistic core.”
If you’re inspired by WMA’s mission to foster a community of safety, radical care, and love—building solidarity within Westwood and with oppressed peoples everywhere in the face of repression and institutional violence—consider expressing your solidarity by getting involved in one of the ways listed below.
How YOU can contribute...
- GIVE MONEY on Venmo @westwoodmutualaid to help purchase meals, snacks, water, hygiene items, clothes, outreach supplies, and more. You can also keep an eye out for their weekly community requests by clicking here, and provide any of these items the day of their weekly mutual aid.
- If you’re interested in directly supporting their mutual aid efforts, SIGN UP to Volunteer by filling out their Volunteer Intake Form and someone will contact you with more details.
- FOLLOW WMA on IG @westwood.mutual.aid to learn more about their cause and stay up to date with their efforts.
Written by Ryan who organizes with MALAN.
DO YOU HAVE TIME, ITEMS*, OR MONEY TO CONTRIBUTE?
DO YOU NEED ITEMS, SERVICES, OR FOOD?
*PLEASE clean, sort & fold all items you are donating. Items should be new or gently used. Socks, underwear and hygiene items should always be unused.
WHO: 909 Mutual Aid
YOU HAVE: ITEMS MONEY
YOU NEED: ITEMS FOOD
909 Mutual Aid serves unhoused folks and sex workers of Pomona. Our mission is to reduce harm and spread love. We primarily serve along Holt, but we drive and drop off crucial items to folks all over the city. We provide sack lunches, hydration, clothes, blankets, hygiene supplies, harm reduction supplies (narcan, condoms, fentanyl test strips), and pet food. We partner with other mutual aid groups across Southern California to ensure our community is cared for.
COLLECTING: Check out this IG post for details
WHEN: Month of December. Check in with 909 Mutual Aid on IG to ask about drop off/pick up
WHERE: Tongva Land / Pomona
$: Venmo: ros333r Cashapp: ravi0lis0lis333
WHO: Home-y Made Meals
YOU HAVE: TIME ITEMS MONEY
YOU NEED: ITEMS FOOD
Home-y Made Meals is an effort that gets homemade meals to unhoused folks by connecting a volunteer network of at-home cooks and delivery drivers. Click here if you're interested in participating as a cook or a driver!
COLLECTING: Items for our Shopping’s FREE event. Check out their IG post for details/email hmm@eayikes.org
WHEN: December 9th-20th. Here’s a full list of available dates/times. Schedule a drop-off here.
WHERE: Creating Justice LA Peace & Healing Center in Downtown LA
$: Donation link and Amazon Wishlist for Shopping’s FREE
WHO: Long Beach Community Compost
YOU HAVE: ITEMS
YOU NEED: ITEMS
Community compost group in Long Beach turning people's food scraps into vitamins for the soil. Operates a composting location where you can drop off food scraps or pick up compost.
COLLECTING: Let's share things! We offer a free store during our hours. Leave stuff, take stuff, such as household items, books, clothing, shelf stable foods, snacks, etc.
WHEN: Drop-off hours are Fridays from 8:00-9:30am and Sundays 10:00-11:30am.
WHERE: 2714 California Ave, Long Beach, CA 90755
$: Donation link
WHO: Sex Workers Outreach Project Los Angeles
YOU HAVE: MONEY
YOU NEED: ITEMS SERVICES FOOD
We are a peer support organization, run by sex workers and for sex workers. Our mission is to pursue our human rights to bodily autonomy, racial and social justice, and mutual liberation through outreach, education, mutual aid and political advocacy.
COLLECTING: Fund SWOPLA for 2025! We need your support to sustain the work we do for SWers by SWers.
$: Donate with this link
WHO: Project Ropa
YOU HAVE: ITEMS
YOU NEED: ITEMS
Project Ropa is a Los Angeles based nonprofit and certified social enterprise on a mission to reduce waste and restore dignity to those in need by providing clothing and hygiene essentials. Our mobile walk-in clothing closet carries hope as well as a full selection of clean clothes, shoes, accessories and personal hygiene kits to those in need in the Los Angeles area.
COLLECTING: Check out this IG post for a full list of needed items
WHEN: Dropoff: Mon/Wed/Fri 9am-3pm, 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the Month 10am-1pm. Send them a DM on IG to schedule a pickup!
WHERE: 13970 Van Ness Avenue, Gardena, CA 90249
$: Donate here or on Venmo
WHO: Pasadena For All
YOU HAVE: TIME ITEMS MONEY
YOU NEED: ITEMS FOOD
We're a Pasadena mutual aid collective serving unhoused neighbors and advocating for affordable housing in the San Gabriel Valley. Since August 2020, we've provided food, water, hygiene kits, clothes, sleeping bags and more to neighbors in our parks and on our streets. DM us on Instagram to find out how you can get involved.
COLLECTING: We have a donation bin for new or used winter clothes in good condition, sizes L and up, along with sleeping bags, tents and more at the Gamble House Bookstore from 10am to 4pm Mon-Sat. We always need help with sandwiches, snacks, and waters.
WHEN: Saturdays at 10am for outreach. Email us at pasadenaforall@gmail.com for more info, or check out our outreach volunteer form here.
WHERE: Central Park
$: Cashapp: $PasadenaForall
WHO: LA Tenants Union K-Town Local
YOU HAVE: ITEMS MONEY
YOU NEED: ITEMS SERVICES FOOD
The K-Town Local of the LA Tenants Union (LATU) is hosting a community fair, Feria Popular, with toys, resources, food, music, and information about building community power through their tenant movement.
COLLECTING: New, unopened toys for all ages. Text 661-665-6914 to coordinate pick-up/drop-off.
WHEN: Sunday 1/5/25 12 PM - 4 PM
WHERE: Normandie Recreation Center
$: Venmo @latenants with the tag “KTown Toy Drive”
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