A new project has emerged from recent Mutual Aid Town Hall meetings with an aim of increasing collaboration and sharing resources between some of the many mutual aid organizations in town: a Mutual Aid Spokes Council.
During the first of our monthly meetings we heard from Food Not Bombs, Barefoot Defenders, Free Skool, Neighborhood Anarchist Collective (NAC) family group, Medics for Action Collective Eugene (MACE), the jail sit group, and Eugene Community Fridges about what they’re currently up to and what support they could use to keep things moving.

A lot of cool ideas for collaboration between groups came out of the meeting, but there are still a number of needs that different organizations could use the community’s help with meeting, so this will be a monthly column in Dissonant Times outlining group needs and ways to help.

If you want a way to plug in to some of these projects, check out the list below for some brief descriptions of the work they do and how to help out!

• Food Not Bombs serves food and basic needs supplies at the park blocks on Fridays from 4-5pm. They’re looking for more Friday volunteers to help cook and inventory supplies before they start distro at 4pm. If you’re not free on Fridays and/or need a low key way to help out, they could also use support assembling their supplies into various kits (first aid, hygiene, etc.) If you’ve got a show you’ve been meaning to watch and need something to do with your hands, or you wanna join the cooking party, reach out at eugenefoodnotbombs@proton.me or on Instagram @foodnotbombs_eugene
• Barefoot Defenders provides food and material support for unhoused neighbors on Tuesdays and Fridays and could use more volunteers to help distribute. They also regularly need more tents, sleeping bags, and tarps to replace what gets taken by city workers. If you want to help with either of these needs, DM them on Instagram @barefootdefenders or email at eugenebfd@protonmail.com
• Free Skool is a free skill sharing project organized by NAC that puts on a variety of classes based on feedback from community members about skills that they want to share and those that they want to learn. They currently want to be able to offer more supplies for people to take home and practice the skills they learn from the workshops, but they need more storage space to make it happen! If you have a space in Eugene or Springfield that you’d like to offer, hit them up at freeskooleugene@gmail.com or on Instagram @eugenefreeskool (they are also always seeking locations for workshops and people who have skills they want to share)
• NAC also has a homeschool and family meetup group that encourages more families to join so there’s a larger pool of families to coordinate play dates and share advice and resources. If you’re interested in joining, reach out to @nac_eugene on Instagram or email them at contact@neighborhoodanarchists.org to get connected!
• MACE is an action medicine collective that provides safety, treatment, and crisis management during political action, and also collaborates with other mutual aid organizations to provide medical support at their events when requested. If you have medical experience and want to reach out about working with them, you can email mace.eugene@proton.me
• The Get Out of Jail! support crew provides food, bus passes, and other jail support to people being released from the county jail between 1:30 and 5pm on Fridays. If you’re interested in finding ways to help, you’re encouraged to come down to the front of the jail during that time frame to chat with folks and plug in.
• Eugene Community Fridges hosts a number of free food fridges around town, and they are also currently setting up cooling stations around town and seeking out more locations to do so. If you have a spot that is visible to somewhat high traffic areas and you want to host a cooling station (which mostly means set up, refilling drinks if you’re offering them, and occasionally monitoring to make sure your canopy doesn’t fly away), reach out to @eugenecommunityfridge on Instagram to see what supplies they can help you with. Or if you want to go rogue and do it yourself, check out this infographic with tips for set up: