About our 1st Annual Solidarity Day
This will be our last day of the Mutual Aid Hub. In the spirit of Black August, we lift up and honor the collective efforts of mutual aid, resistance, resilience and revolution locally and across the globe. We want to acknowledge all the work that has and will continue to be done and express appreciation for the commitments made to this movement.
Join us in the parking lot of former BP School 77 (429 Plymouth Ave) on Friday, August 28 between 4-7 pm, for the first Annual Solidarity Day!
Masks are required and physical distancing of minimally 6ft. We will provide masks for those without and will have ample hand sanitizer on site.
If you have a preexisting condition and/or do not feel comfortable joining us in person, please join us on Facebook Live at 5 pm where our Executive Director, Rahwa Ghirmatzion will share updates and comments on the last few months at PUSH and in our world.
What is Mutual Aid?
“In systems of mutual aid, communities take on responsibility for caring for one another, rather than forcing individuals to fend for themselves.
Mutual aid is also not a charity: rather than creating a centralized organization where one person is giving to someone else, forcing them to become dependent on yet another relationship negotiating their access to material resources, mutual aid creates a symbiotic relationship, where all people offer material goods or assistance to one another. Mutual aid organizing is volunteer-run, transparent, and driven by the needs articulated by community members.”
Watch the video below to see the Mutual Aid Hub in action. A true picture of people helping people in love and solidarity.
What We Were Able to Provide through PUSH Mutual Aid:
- Food for approximately 3,500 visitors to the Hub or one of our mobile food pantries
- $26,000 to local cooperatives and small businesses
- $58,000 in direct support to 164 households for things like rent and utilities.
- Resolved 582 requests for support – everything from prescriptions, to transportation, health care costs, household supplies, technology, legal and social services, food and nutritional needs, and more.
- Rent relief to PUSH Buffalo tenants. Total relief was over $104,000.
- $46,500 in passthrough funding to other local organizations: Grassroots Gardens/Seeding Resiliency, Justice for Migrant Families, Coalition for Economic Justice/Buffalo Mutual Aid, and Cooperation Buffalo Mutual Aid.