Mutual aid Medford  & Somerville

#wg-hotline + #rapid-response 

• We really need more hotliners! If you’d like to connect neighbors with the resources they need, consider becoming a hotliner! Fill out this interest form, and we'll connect with you. We especially need more volunteers who can speak Spanish or Haitian Kreyol but these extra language skills are not required!

• You can find more information about what volunteering with the Hotline involves here.

Resources:

• MAMAS Resource Hub

• Know Your Rights Resources

• Request Support

#free-store

• Volunteer to help go through and sort clothes.

• Look out for opportunities to deliver bins of clothing donations to partner orgs in #free-store.

• Spring is approaching, but support our friends at Food Not Bombs Somerville Food Serves by donating warmer gear. Right now, they don't need heavy jackets or hats/gloves/scarves, but they do need light jackets, rain jackets, warm base layers like sweaters, hoodies, and warmer pants. FNB serves are on the 1st and 3rd Fridays from 6-8PM at Statue Park in Davis.

Free Store Events:

• [In-person] Free Store: Shop for clothes, completely free, at our upcoming spring free store! Everyone is welcome, we have so many clothes! It will be Sat., April 11th, 10AM-2PM, at East Somerville Community School (50 Cross St., Somerville). Rain date is April 28th. 

Meetings:

• [Virtual] Free Store Check-in Meeting: Mon., April 6th, 7-7:45PM.  Check in via email ([email protected]) or slack for more info!

#mending-skillshare

• Attend our next Mending Skillshare! Whether you have a mending skill to teach, tools or materials to share, or just want to learn something new, all are welcome! Details posted below as they're announced. 

Mending Events:

• Mend with MAMAS:  Learn to darn, patch, and repair clothing—no experience needed. Bring your own projects to work on or mend clothing for the free store. Masking is required for skillshare events. 

• [In-person] Somerville meetup: Sun, March 22nd, 1:30-3:30PM at Connexion Church (149 Broadway, Somerville). 

• [In-person] Medford meetup: Sun., April 12th, at Hillside Community Church (144 North St., Medford)

Meetings:

• [Virtual] Mending Skillshare Planning Meetings: 1st Thursday of the month. The next meting is on Thurs., April 2nd, 7-8PM. Ask in slack for an invite!

#wg-delivery

• Donate to MAMAS! We're looking to raise more money to clear our grocery assistance wait list. If you're able to provide recurring, monthly assistance to a neighbor, check out the link below! 

• Become a Grocery Pair! Support food security and build community by delivering a gift card or groceries to a neighbor each month. Most grocery pairs are fully reimbursed by MAMAS, but due to limited financial resources, MAMAS is not creating new pairs. If folks are able to commit to sponsoring a household on a monthly basis ($100, $200, or $300) for a set period of time (such as 6 or 12 months), we are happy to help connect a mutual aid pairing. Email us if you’re interested in being a pair!

• Participate in the next Supermarket Sweep! We meet up every other month and distribute $5,000+ in grocery gift cards and sometimes groceries to households that request support. More info about Sweeps is here.

• Look out for opportunities to deliver giftcards + other resources to neighbors! They're posted in the slack channel (above) as they arise.

Events: 

• [In-person] Next Supermarket Sweep: TBA, likely April!

• Although gift cards are distributed monthly, supermarket sweeps open to volunteers will take place every other month.

Grocery team meetings:

• [Virtual] Coordinators Meetings: weekly on Thursday evenings. If you're not already a coordinator, check in via email/slack with questions.

Food Resources: 

• Project Bread's FoodSource Hotline

• Greater Boston Food Bank Locator

• Community Fridges and Pantries

• MAMAS Food Resource Hub spreadsheet

#wg-gardening-collective

Next steps:

• Fill out our interest form to indicate what you're interested in helping with (we'll send you a follow-up email and add you to our email list).

• Transition our webpage to a new site! (Check back in a few weeks for info about the group, including a map of garden locations).

Events: 

• [In-person] Once the weather is warmer, visit MAMAS' Somerville gardens any time! Harvest free vegetables/herbs and say hi to any gardeners. Locations include Area 52 (Mossland at Elm Street), 42 Elm Street, and 36 Sewall Street. More gardens are on Trull Street, Albion Street, and Conwell Ave - just look for the MAMAS signs!

Gardening Collective meeting:

• [In-person] Sat., April 11th, from 1:15-3:15PM, at the Central Library Auditorium (79 Highland Ave., Somerville). All are welcome, even if you don't have seeds to share! Please wear a mask. 

• [Virtual] Tues., April 14th, 6:30PM, Zoom

• Email us at [email protected] or check #wg-gardening-collective for the link!

#wg-communications

#communications-requests

Next steps:

• Create graphics for socials by looking for requests in #communications-requests. If you introduce yourself in #wg-communications, we can tag you when requests come in!

• Review translations of posts, text, and forms in Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole so our events and information are accessible to more neighbors!

• Draft or edit the monthly newsletter.

• Keep this page updated!

• Become a coordinator to post to instagram or bluesky, and respond to DMs.

Comms Team meeting: 

• [Virtual] Wed., March 18th, 6PM, Zoom

• Email [email protected] (Subject: "Comms help") or check in #wg-communications for the link!

#wg-money + #money-in

• Fund grocery assistance and free store events by contributing via Common Good, our fiscal sponsor! Recurring contributions are incredibly helpful, but every one-time gift helps too. For more information on setting up contributions via Common Good, please see this guide. Ask us in slack if you have any questions!

• Help spread the word about MAMAS! We're invited to more events than we can table at. Get to know us, and when events are posted in #money-in, volunteer to share what we do at the event! 

Money Team meeting: 

• [Virtual] Tue., March 17th, 7:30 - 8:30pm on Zoom. Let us know in #wg-money if you want to join.

#wg-tech

• Help our team build the new MAMAS website! Input from folks who use accessibility tech would be especially useful.

• Attend a co-working session (details below)

Tech Team meeting:

• [Virtual] Tech Team meets on Mondays biweekly for Sync and Co-working sessions. While we work on upgrading some of our systems, the meetings will be internally focused. The next meeting is March 16th, 5PM!

• Check in #wg-tech or email [email protected] for the link! 

#study-group

• The MAMAS study space is a community to learn, practice, and deepen our commitments to making change together—Check out what we've explored so far here!

• Share your ideas on what you'd like to talk about next, or let us know if you're interested in facilitating, by joining the #study-group channel in slack. 

Study group meetings:

• Meetings are typically held on the second Wednesday of the month from 7-8:30PM. Next meeting: 

• [Virtual]: Next meeting Wed., April. 8, 7-8:30 PM - Topic TBD! 

• Register here to get on the list (and stay updated on next month's study topic), or post in #study-groups on slack to get the zoom link and access to the materials. 

#wg-parents-caregivers

• Fill out our Hand-Me-Down Exchange form if you're interested in contributing to or receiving children's clothes hand-me-downs, as a way of addressing excess clothes and limited space for growing kids.

• Build out our resource list for parents and caregivers.

• Plan in-person meet-ups and play times so you can get to know your neighbors with kids!

• Foster trust and inter-community reliance on one another for things like childcare and building a more communal way of raising children

• Brainstorm other ways to connect parents and caregivers, build community, pool resources, and more! 

Parents & Caregivers meeting: 

• Virtual meetings and in-person meetups are on hiatus until the weather is warmer.

#wg-wellbeing

Next steps:

• Help organize and restart the MAMAS neighbor walking group! Post in #wg-wellbeing or email [email protected] if this is something you're interested in! 

• Build out our resource list for emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing

• Coordinators needed to organize monthly meetings where we can brainstorm and practice ways that we can holistically support each other.

Events + Meetings

• TBA