Fundraising for needed monetary aid. People can remain anonymous to the general public if needed. SLT Mutual Aid can help facilitate money for needed amounts that community members may be short on such as rent, phone bill, car payment, utility payment, etc.
Goal: To provide emergency monetary aid for those in need by facilitating community members helping community members.
Restaurants/Cafes offer free food that has been previously bought by other customers. Current restaurants: Tahoe Burger Bros and Marias.
Goal: To meet the food insecurity needs in South Lake Tahoe while also promoting local businesses that people can give to if they have a little extra.
Need: Help with getting more restaurants/cafes to participate and help with getting the word out to those who could use these free meals.
Link: Pay It Forward Folder
Matches abundance with need. Fill out the form and Family match will help get your need met or help put your specific donation to a family in need.
Goal: Matching the need with the aid through community connections.
Need: More small money donations and getting the word out.
Link: Matching Program Folder
Peace Love Tahoe has facilitated a gift drive to benefit the SLT Family Resource Center. Peace Love Tahoe has put up bins in these locations (list locations). The Family Resource Center is going to distribute the gifts that are collected.
Goal: Meet a need this holiday season to make sure all kids receive a gift.
Need: More gifts for all ages and help getting the word out.
Link: Peace Love Tahoe Folder
Putting together swaps that include the whole community and all different demographics.
Goal: Reduce waste: Giveaway what you no longer need. Save money: Get what you want for free. Build community: Meet neighbors, share creatively. (From buynothing.org) ReBuild Community - Meet
Need: Organize an abundance swap event and/or join the Buy Nothing Project FB page.
Links: Facebook Group | Instagram | Buy Nothing Project | Abundance Swap
(Information to be filled in)
Goal: (To be determined)
Need: (To be determined)
Link: (To be determined)
Do you have ideas on how to make these mutual aid projects successful? Reach out to slt-mutualaid@proton.me or one of the admins via Signal and we will help you get started.
Here are some mutual aid ideas that need your input to get started:
Lending items to each other and/or creating centralized lending libraries. Example: Need a mixer for a weekend every now and then. Instead of purchasing a new one that will sit in a cupboard for 3 weeks out of the month, borrow someone else's that is sitting in the cupboard waiting to be used. Also, an individual can create a centralized library such as a tool box library where people can donate their tools and it becomes a lending library for the community.
Goal: Lend/borrow items that are needed rather than purchase new items. Creating community through lending/borrowing connections.
Idea Links: Library of Things Toolkit | North Sac Free Tool Library
Are you good at sewing? Do you need something sewed? Do you have skills in soldering? Were you about to throw out that metal strainer whose handle came off? Let's match the need with the skill in a fix-it clinic/repair café. Truckee Roundhouse is a makerspace "that supports the teaching, learning, and practicing of a wide variety of crafts, skills, technologies, and arts in the Truckee-Tahoe community." Could we offer a mutual aid makerspace at different sites in South Tahoe?
Goal: Keep items out of the landfill and create community connections.
Idea Links: Fixit Clinic | Repair Cafe | Truckee Roundhouse
Do you have space that you have dreamt of turning into a garden? Why not make it a community garden? Do you have skills in gardening that we can learn from? Imagine South Lake Tahoe full of community garden spaces that we can take care of and be nourished by.
Goal: To create renewable food sources within the South Lake Tahoe community that creates connection and responds to the need of food insecurity.
Idea Links: American Community Gardening Association | UCANR Community Garden Guide | Tahoe Food Hub | Slow Food Lake Tahoe
Do you have a skill that you can teach others? Do you know how to sew? Do you know how to budget money? Do you know how to teach coping skills? Do you know how to change your own oil or repair a bike? Let's teach each other the skills that we want to learn. Do you see yourself helping to organize skills trade workshops?
Goal: To learn new skills to apply to your life and teach skills for others to benefit. To create community.
Idea Links: Skill Swap | Truckee Roundhouse Classes (Not free, but examples of offerings)
Conversation groups for people to learn, improve and practice their conversation skills. 1) For Spanish speakers to practice English; 2) For English speakers to practice their Spanish.
Goal: Boost fluency and confidence with Spanish/English conversation in a real-life, supportive setting.
Idea Links: Nevada County Calendar | ESL Conversation Circles Toolkit (Truckee library offers this)
Instead of exchanging money, we exchange time. Example: One person needs their dog walked while someone else needs help with hemming their pants – they trade their time instead of spending money on these services. 1 hour equals 1 hour. Another Example: childcare swapping – instead of paying for childcare, you create time swapping for childcare.
Goal: Create community connections and trade time rather than money.
Idea Link: Skill Swap
Similar to little free libraries that have book exchanges, we could do all sorts of small items: Mug exchanges, keychain exchanges, Zine exchanges, Sticker exchange, magnet exchange or even a small food pantry. We would need these things to be able to be set up in businesses in the winter and definitely cannot do outside food pantries due to the wildlife. Along this same line – can we create a map of free bins to get out to the public? People volunteer during Spring – Fall to put out Free bins of items. These can be tubs/bins that stay in a specific spot with a lid for when it rains and people grab what they need.
Goal: To create community connections and exchange items rather than buy new items.
Idea Links: PDX Sidewalk Joy | Worldwide Sidewalk Joy
Small local groups that organize to support each other with tasks like childcare, errands or resource sharing.
Goal: To create smaller community connections localized to a neighborhood.
Idea Links: How to Start a Pod | How to Create a Mutual Aid Network
Meet, help, connect, collaborate with your neighbors. Bring food, family, friends, and free stuff for giveaway piles (clothes, food, art supplies, crop swap, tools, toys and more). Provide table for mutual aid resources, sign ups and information. Perhaps we could aim for Memorial Day Block Parties in various SLT neighborhoods.
Goal: Meet and connect with your neighbors, identify needs, provide resources and free stuff.
Idea Links: Code Pink | Block Party USA | Dutchtown STL
"Solidarity, not charity. Mutual Aid Disaster Relief is a grassroots disaster relief network based on the principles of solidarity, mutual aid, and autonomous direct action. By working with, listening to, and supporting impacted communities, especially their most vulnerable members, to lead their own recovery, we build long-term, sustainable and resilient communities." (From link). Can we find a way to help our vulnerable neighbors during power/internet/water/gas outages and also during fire, snow, evacuation, and winter storms? Can we find a way to share equipment, food, necessities, resources as needed? Do you know your neighbors? Do you know who could use extra help? How do we best reach and help them in times of crisis or disaster?
Goal: Connecting individuals and communities to assist one another during crisis, emergencies, outages, or natural disasters.
Idea Link: Mutual Aid Disaster Relief