Winter is Coming. Here's How to Help.

Laura Porras, right, prepares bags of fresh vegetables at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in New York. [Kathy Willens/AP]

Mutual aid – an egalitarian political practice in which volunteers organize funds, supplies or services within a community – has proven essential during the COVID pandemic. Now, mutual aid groups are bracing for another COVID wave during the holiday season.

Amid record numbers of daily coronavirus cases, hospitals in both urban and rural communities are overwhelmed. Epidemiologists have warned that people cannot wait for another round of economic stimulus to help ride out lockdowns. Without an extension to the CARES Act, about 12 million people will lose their unemployment benefits. As we wait on Washington’s deadlock, here are a few mutual aid funds looking for help:

Austin Mutual Aid is raising funds for their “Kick the Cold” campaign to buy bottled water, hot meals, tents and sleeping bags, hygiene supplies and more for the unhoused community of Austin, Texas.
The Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund is raising funds to buy food, water and other essentials for Diné & Hopi families who have been hit by the pandemic. According to the fundraiser, as of last week at least 34 communities in Navajo Nation are experiencing uncontrolled spread.
South Brooklyn Mutual Aid in New York is collecting mass transit MetroCards from neighbors who don’t think they’ll be using their extra funds through the end of the year to give to neighbors who need them.
Street Watch LA is hosting a cold weather supply drive for unhoused people and collecting new or gently used tents, tarps, warm clothing and more, which can be dropped off at multiple locations throughout Los Angeles.
Wicker Park Bucktown Mutual Aid in Chicago is looking for donated supplies, funds for mutual aid requests from the community and volunteers to help with food distribution.