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  • A volunteer army has answered Colorado's need for masks. Denver's jails are one recent beneficiary.

    Across Colorado, grassroots groups have come together to create homemade masks for the state’s most vulnerable populations to protect against COVID-19. Two of those populations are Denver’s Downtown Detention Center and Denver County Jail. Groups like Dena’s Mask Making Army, the Mask Mavens, and even some AA and sober living communities have rallied together – virtually, of course – to use their sewing skills to fill the mask needs, about 3 masks per person, for those experiencing incarceration.

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  • Cultivating communities of care

    A mutual aid group in Boulder Country has directed their efforts towards making sure people are accounted for and that they have the goods they need during the coronavirus pandemic. Although the effort is just one of many both in the county and nationwide, they've responded to 70 requests from community members so far. "Help is great if it comes from the government or if it comes from a state apparatus, that’s fine," explains one of the organizers. "But you don’t have to wait if you can get organized with people in your community."

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  • They asked for firewood, food, even medication, and strangers across Maine delivered

    New and existing community response and mutual aid networks, such as the Maine Coronavirus Community Assistance Facebook page, serve as stopgap measures so people struggling with the economic costs of the Covid-19 pandemic can get more immediate aid than from state bureaucracies. The crowd-sourced format also allows for more targeted aid, like when one of Maine’s 20,000 members received firewood, food, and even over-the-counter medication. The Maryland page has marked over 200 posts as having received assistance. To run smoothly, the pages need volunteer moderators to fact-check and maintain civility.

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  • DIY relief effort delivers for Wind River

    Two women living on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming helped to provide mutual aid when they saw many families in the area facing difficulties during the onset of the pandemic. The pair set up a fundraising page and a Google form to raise funds and track peoples' needs and started distributing goods like groceries, diapers, and hand sanitizers to over 300 families on the reservation.

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  • Feeding the frontline: How Los Angeles restaurants are supporting health workers

    With restaurants closing and hospital staff working extra hours, Los Angeles communities are finding ways for them to support one another. As a response to COVID-19, people are donating money to local LA businesses like KitchenMouse, Bibi’s Bakery, and Pizza World, so they can provide meals for healthcare staff.

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  • With Food For All Poor and Door-to-Door Coronavirus Screening, Pandemic-hit Bhilwara Sets Example for Rest of India

    Bhilwara, India has provided food, masks, hand sanitizer, and door-to-door coronavirus screening to 600,000 residents who are not allowed to leave their houses during a total lockdown due to an outbreak of coronavirus. The generosity of donors from NGOs, charities, and individuals was managed efficiently by local government who handed out food staples to thousands of households.

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  • Mutual aid is making a comeback during COVID-19 outbreak

    Mutual aid at the grassroots level is about helping a neighbor in need, and this strategy has been spurred into action across the country in response to COVID-19. In Detroit, people rally across social media and technology to connect those in need with those looking to help. For those without social media, mutual aid forms are available online for residents to apply for help from community members in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and more. They provide services such as picking up groceries and medicine, childcare, or monetary donations.

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  • Our Closet provides clothing—and dignity—to Philadelphians of all walks of life

    A Philadelphia program called Our Closet offers a judgement-free way for people to access high-quality donated clothes without any barriers to entry—no paperwork, referral, or ID needed. As their services grew, they joined with Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) to open 18 pop-up retail-style locations around the city. 90% of their donations come from community members, and "in 2019 alone, Our Closet held 85 pop-ups, distributing 33,451 items of clothing, shoes, and accessories via 6,208 shopping experiences and 575 crises and reentry packages with the help of 2,524 volunteers."

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  • The Hub of Hope's laundry services help homeless people feel 'normal' again

    In Philadelphia, the Hub of Hope offers free shower and laundry services for people experiencing homelessness. The service, while acknowledging it won’t solve chronic housing insecurity, does help improve quality of life and health and served over 600 individuals and churned over 2,000 loads of laundry. Other Philadelphia shelters and service centers are starting to offer similar services with funding from local nonprofits.

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  • The secret gardens of Rohingya refugees

    The Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh, the largest refugee camp in the world, is overcrowded and increasingly isolated. A program by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Bangladeshi NGO BRAC offers refugees equipment, advice, fertilizer, and seeds to make their own garden. These gardens have become hugely popular, taking up what little space there is between tents, but also offer refugees a source of peace and a food source to supplement their meals. Compost for these gardens are prepared outside of the camp by Bangladeshi women, which helps improve the relationship between the two groups.

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