SEPTEMBER 2024
Vea el Despacho de septiembre en español.
View the September Dispatch in Spanish.
Listen to The Dispatch podcast 🎤🎧🔊 Escuche al podcast Del Despacho
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 ⬇️
A FEW WORDS ON: 12 Children’s Books that Celebrate the Spirit of Mutual Aid
Mutual aid should be intergenerational work and kids belong in our efforts. So, to celebrate back-to-school season, we invited children and caregivers in the MALAN community to check out some books that can start a conversation about how kids might give and get support in their own backyard. Here’s what they had to say:
We Are Better Together by Bill McKibben
The kid said: “I liked how it showed what's good and what's not good. I think other kids would like to read this book because it's kind of fun."
The grown up said: “It shows ways in which individuals and families can be climate warriors and environmental advocates with their own actions.”
Composting for Community by Michael Martinez
The kid said: "I liked when they showed the worms squiggling around. At the end of the book, it talks about community fridges and how people can take food if they need it."
Noodlephant by Jacob Kramer
The kid said: “The problem in Noodlephant was that the kangaroos, or the rule makers, brought Noodlephant to jail because she 'broke the law' after cooking noodles for her friends. But Noodlephant says the laws were already broken."
Our Little Kitchen by Jillian Tamaki
The kid said: “I love this book. I love to sing. I want to cook something.”
The grown up said: “We loved the conversations around conservation and less waste and how much cooking is a gift to others.”
Hey Wall: A Story of Art and Community by Susan Verde
The kid said: "I like paint and want to play with playdoh.”
The grown up said: “We really enjoyed how the boy in the center of the book had genuine curiosity about his own community, the people, the history and how that small spark paved the way for the larger community wall project.”
The Circles All Around Us by Brad Montague
The kid said: "I really liked the book because it shows how the little boy in the book expanded and shared his circle with others.”
We're Better Together: A Book About Community by Eileen Spinelli
The grown up said: “We enjoyed this example-driven empathy-led book about "togetherness" and the actions we can take to help build a better community.”
Abolition Is Love by Syrus Marcus Ware
The grown up said: “As a parent, I appreciated how the book provided both small ways to impact community and larger, more complex solutions in a way that younger audiences can understand.”
Everything is Connected by Jason Gruhl
The kid said: “I liked the Author's Note, it says 'Be brave. There's a blobfish somewhere that will thank you.'"
The grown up said: “Simple but profound, starting with the human body expanding to society, the natural world, all the way to the stars in the galaxy.”
Last Stop On Market Street by Matt De La Peña
The grown up said: “This book offers examples of how perspective can guide our everyday choices and values. It shows you how there’s always more than one way to look at the community/individuals around us and the importance of being in the present moment in order to experience connection.“
You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith
The kid said: "I think it's important to hold each other up because sometimes people don't work with each other or hold each other up so it's important that you do.”
The grown up said: “Using very little descriptors and bright, colorful illustrations, You Hold Me Up portrays how intangible actions can make all the difference in providing support for one another.”
Powwow Day by Traci Sorell
The kid said: “This book is about my mom and my culture and I love it because of that. It felt like the main person felt like me at powwows - like they want to dance but they can't dance at the same time. I think it's nice how the best friend said she would dance for the main person in the Healing Dance."
Thank you to the following friends for engaging with these books: Noble Family, Plescia Family, Mia N, Potts Family, London C, Tripp Family, Rona M, and Alyssa F. We hope that stories like these help build solidarity with and among the kids in our movements.
Collected by Nicole, a mom, and Katie, a school librarian, who both organize with MALAN.
FEATURED EFFORT: MALAN Directory
For several years, Mutual Aid LA Network has cataloged Southern California’s mutual aid efforts through the monthly dispatches. We feel fortunate to have built a community of folks subscribed to the Dispatch, and for it to be a place to introduce and connect people to Los Angeles’ web of mutual aid efforts.
We’ve spent the last six months trying to build a more interactive version of the dispatch, something that folks can search through, add filters to, and categorize by neighborhood in order to best match the MALAN community with orgs and efforts according to needs and offerings. With our new Listings Directory, you can see a (nearly) endless stream of mutual aid projects, detailing various asks and opportunities for involvement. Though the dispatch usually features a unique set of listings each month, we recognize that much of the work done by orgs we feature is ongoing, and that their needs don’t dissipate with the end of the month. We hope that this tool will bring us closer to thinking about mutual aid and community building as a continuous project, without an end or expiration date.
Much like the Dispatch that you receive in your inbox, the Listings Directory includes information about the needs and offerings of each org, the time and place that they gather to do their outreach/distribution, and their contact and donation information. The Listings Directory also includes the month and year that the listing was published, be sure to reach out directly to the org if the listing is over 3 months old to ensure their needs haven’t changed! Finally, we have a feedback/help form where you can let us know how the Listings Directory might be improved!
We’re so proud to finally introduce the Listings Directory, and we can’t wait to see how our MALAN community uses it to get plugged in.
XOXO,
The Directory Team
How YOU can contribute...
USE the Listings Directory sorting features to find an effort you’re interested in getting involved with! Find the link HERE
FILL OUT our feedback form so our team can continue to work on making the listings directory better!
Written by Alli Kirste who organizes with MALAN and volunteers at Produce in the Park.
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: Food for Comrades
YOU HAVE: TIME MONEY
YOU NEED: ITEMS FOOD
We are a small group of mutual aid baddies who dig food recovery & harm reduction. We're looking for people to join our Sunday outreach team, as well as drivers to pick up leftover food for us on Wednesdays & Thursdays in Panorama City. Send us a DM or email foodforcomrades@gmail.com
WHEN: Outreach: Sun. 3-5pm. Food pick-ups: Wed. 12pm & Thurs. anytime 8am-3pm.
WHERE: Westside, South LA, and Panorama City
$: Donate Here, or venmo @foodforcomrades
WHO: Produce in the Park (MALAN)
YOU HAVE: TIME ITEMS
YOU NEED: FOOD
Produce in the Park is MALAN’s weekly free produce distro, providing rescued produce to any and every body! Come through for however long you can to help distribute produce, sort + cull to send to the community fridges, or sign up to be a fridge driver who picks up produce and brings it to stock a fridge! Get more info or sign up.
COLLECTING: Bags! Thick plastic, reusable totes, clear produce bags. Must be clean. Fill out the form!
WHEN: Thursdays 12p-2p, Fridge pick up between 1 and 1:30pm
WHERE: St. James Park (near USC)
$: Contribute funds to help us purchase water to stock the fridges!
WHO: LA Community Fridges (LACF)
YOU HAVE: TIME ITEMS
YOU NEED: ITEMS FOOD
A decentralized network of fridges/pantries across the county that run on a redistribution of existing resources + a ‘take what you need, leave what you don’t’ ethos in an effort to increase access to fresh + nourishing foods for everyone. Add extra items to your grocery cart for a fridge or join weekly efforts like Tuesday’s pick-up or Produce in the Park. Keep supplies, like spray and rags, on hand to clean shelves and drawers + bags to toss out expired food. We're currently in search of new hosts for fridges in Silver Lake and Echo Park. If you have ideas about good potential hosts, or would like to host a fridge yourself, get in touch! Contact lacommunityfoodshare@gmail.com. Have access to a truck or enjoy lifting heavy appliances? Join the Fridge Movers signal! Follow @lacommunityfridges for info + ways to keep the fridge network alive & well. DM w/ any q’s.
COLLECTING: Unopened, unspoiled produce, shelf-stable items, beverages, hygiene products, bag, plasticware, ice packs for the freezer, condiments. Read the intro of Dispatch #14 for more ideas!
WHEN: Any time! Check the hours for each fridge, as they vary!
WHERE: Across LA, use our fridge map to locate the fridge closest to you!
WHO: Lincoln Heights Outreach Team
YOU HAVE: TIME ITEMS MONEY
YOU NEED: ITEMS FOOD
Just people who believe that everyone deserves to have their basic needs met. We are in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood every Sunday handing out food and water and whatever supplies we can round up during the week. Lincoln Heights is facing a dramatic uptick in sweeps due to an increasingly aggressive and carceral state and city government. We are hoping to expand outreach to more than one day a week, but need more hands and resources to get it done.
COLLECTING: Hygiene Products, Sleeping Bags, Tents, Shoes & Clothes, Blankets, Tarps, Baby Supplies, First Aid Supplies and OTC Medicines
WHEN: Every Sunday at 12:30 PM
WHERE: Lincoln Heights Neighborhood (Signal message shoeshark.11 if you are interested in joining)
$: Funds needed for supplies and cash for unhoused neighbors - Venmo @Will_Lennon | CashApp $WillLennon
Thank you for your patience! Visit tiny.cc/malanlinks to: subscribe to receive the next Dispatch via email, to view past Dispatches in your browser w/ links and in Spanish, listen to it as a podcast, view it as a calendar or submit your group to be listed in the next Dispatch. And if you think The Dispatch is a helpful resource, please share it!
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