by Amanda Ong and Agueda Pacheco Flores
Coat drives, toy drives, and food drives are what this time of year is all about. With the cold setting in, mutual aid groups across Seattle and the South End are ramping up their inventories for all kinds of year-round and winter-specific essentials. Neighbors in search of food, clothes, and tents to stay warm may find what they need with one of the many mutual aid groups supported by and for community members.
Mutual aid is a practice of direct community and resource sharing to help meet each other's needs — typically without ties to nonprofits or other organizations. Instead of charity, mutual aid operates in solidarity, recognizing that our health and well-being are bound up in collective care.
'Tis the season for cold weather and gift giving.
Sounds great, but how do you find these mutual aid groups?
Most groups have an Instagram or Facebook account, but it's hard to know where to look if you don't know what you're searching for. The goal of this guide is to make that a little easier. If you're looking for anything, from clothes to food to toiletries, diapers, and baby formula, you can find it through these groups. Looking for ways to help? You can find that here too!
Listed below are some of the South End's mutual aid groups, how to contact them, and what they most need help with right now. For information about starting your own mutual aid group, check out this Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit.
Know of a group that should be on our list? Send us a tip at Community@SeattleEmerald.org.
This guide will be updated periodically, so check back for current info.
Updated for December 2023 by Agueda Pacheco Flores.
New this month: Temperatures are falling and the wet and cold season is already here. Low-income and unhoused communities typically need help with necessities to stay warm, like hand warmers and propane. Before donating, make sure to ask what items are most needed.
The first and only grassroots group in the United States led by unaccompanied and undocumented youth organizers, Super Familia King County is a mutual aid group organized to resist traditional social services that can endanger unaccompanied and undocumented youth. It aims to create community and support immigrant youth.
Seattle Community Fridge is a mutual aid group based in fridges across Seattle stocked with food and other basic items for people to take as they need. Find all of its locations and food donation safety guidelines on its website. Its fridges are stocked with free food and nonperishable items.
A Will & A Way is a non-hierarchical mutual aid collective that has outreach teams distributing in Capitol Hill every Wednesday at 7 p.m. The organization values being a true mutual aid collective rather than a charity, and as such, tries to connect with individuals in the neighborhood about specific needs rather than bulk supply. Right now, given the increase in sweeps, it is working on providing supplies like sleeping bags and tents.
Food Not Bombs is a global movement about sharing free food. While branches operate individually, each is dedicated to mutual aid over charity; uses horizontal decision-making; is opposed to all forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.; is dedicated to nonviolence and promotion of veganism and vegetarianism; and is founded on the belief that food is a human right, not a privilege. It serves two weekly hot meals every Saturday and Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in Occidental Square in Pioneer Square, under the glass shelter.
ChuMinh Tofu has been hosting free hot, vegan meals and distributing survival supplies each Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at 1043 S. Jackson St. in Little Saigon. Organizers known as "The Eggrolls" also organize free clothes, bags, toiletries, snacks, drinks, masks, and hand sanitizer along with the Sunday meal each week.
The Seattle Chinatown-International District Mutual Aid (CID MA) team provides direct aid using a framework of anti-racism, anti-oppression, and cultural lens to bridge language, medical, and survival needs to residents living unsheltered in the CID. It has been providing rapid response since 2020 to residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, city sweeps, heat waves, smoke, and emergency response.
Long Haul Kitchen (LHK) provides mutual aid for unsheltered and homeless folks in Georgetown and SoDo. Volunteers are needed each Sunday to cook and deliver food. LHK also does a weekly propane exchange on Thursdays in Georgetown. Proceeds from a mutual aid cocktail at Jude's Old Town also support the LHK mutual aid efforts.
This group provides supplies to homeless neighbors, including water in the summer, warming kits and propane for cooking in the winter, and also posts fundraisers for community members at risk of losing housing or unable to pay bills.
This group includes BIPOC and allying youth in South Seattle who are determined for change and passionate about mutual aid. They also help with Sunday distributions every week at ChuMinh Tofu in the CID, listed above.
For the People (FTP) is a grassroots, community-led, on-the-ground organization centered around community building. Its mission is to dismantle oppressive systems through compassion, companionship, love, and hot meals!
Based out of Lake City, From the Heart PNW offers a weekly Thursday sack lunch and supplies from 12 to 3 p.m. at Northeast 125th Street and 30th Avenue Northeast, as well as a Pizza Party Saturday and Hot Breakfast Sundays from 12 to 3 p.m. at 1251 33rd Ave. NE. You can drop off supplies at the meals on Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday, or message over social media or email.
Homies Helping Homies distributes food, PPE, first-aid kits, and cold-weather essentials in northwest Seattle. Donation needs vary as the weather changes, but cash donations are always accepted over Venmo or CashApp, and you can message the group on Instagram for more donation information.
The Shuttsie Love Community Pantry, located on Northeast 38th and 110th Street in the Lake City/Meadowbrook area of Seattle, offers food, hygiene, and resources to neighbors facing food or living insecurity. Open 24/7, it builds trust and safety through love and care. By nurturing each other, members hope for a more even playing field where everyone can prosper.
South King County and Eastside Covid19 Mutual Aid (SKC&E) provides grocery and essential item delivery, resource mapping and pod mapping, and survivor support in South King County and the Eastside. Resource mapping and pod mapping are strategies it offers to connect individuals with the resources they need to support each other in the community. It needs support with buying and delivering groceries to families and individuals, administrative tasks and coordination, and monitoring its hotline. It offers support to pantries, pods, and other folks who want to start and grow the capacity of their mutual aid projects in this region.
The BIPOC Food Sovereignty Pantry is a collaborative effort by South King County and Eastside Covid19 Mutual Aid, Uprooted & Rising Seattle, and Queer The Land. These groups are "organizing community pantries in South King County. Our long term goal is to achieve food sovereignty. We will be buying products directly from local BIPOC farmers, as well as supplementing with what we aren't able to buy from local farmers. Your monthly support ensures we can continue our community pantries and purchase produce directly from BIPOC farmers." It is based out of Burien.
Auburn Mutual Aid is a collective of neighbors who provide mutual aid support for BIPOC, undocumented, queer and trans, and low-income folks in Auburn. It runs a food pantry on the first Saturday of every month. Distribution goes quick, especially due to the cold weather, so arrive by 10:25 a.m. Auburn Mutual Aid also shares resources and bills support for community members. Find more information, including dates and times, on its Instagram.
WashMasks is a mutual aid group specifically aimed at Washington farmworkers and is created by artists and art educators in Seattle. It has regular supply drives, and you can sign up as a volunteer to help collect and drive supplies to Yakima.
Editors' Note: This article was updated on 06/08/2023 to correct Beacon Hill Mutual Aid's CashApp handle.
Amanda Ong (she/her) is a Chinese American writer from California. She is a recent graduate of the University of Washington museology master's program and graduated from Columbia University in 2020 with degrees in creative writing and ethnicity and race studies.
Agueda Pacheco Flores is a journalist focusing on Latinx culture and Mexican American identity. Originally from Quertaro, Mexico, Pacheco is inspired by her own bicultural upbringing as an undocumented immigrant and proud Washingtonian.
Featured Image: "The Eggrolls" are a group of volunteers working out of ChuMinh Tofu Deli who distribute free vegan meals and supplies every Sunday in the CID. (Photo: Yangbin Wu)
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Before you move on to the next story …
The South Seattle Emerald™ is brought to you by Rainmakers. Rainmakers give recurring gifts at any amount. With around 1,000 Rainmakers, the Emerald™ is truly community-driven local media. Help us keep BIPOC-led media free and accessible.
If just half of our readers signed up to give $6 a month, we wouldn’t have to fundraise for the rest of the year. Small amounts make a difference.
We cannot do this work without you. Become a Rainmaker today!