Post Al8wlduTpilqXuvmD2 by callisto@disabled.social
(DIR) More posts by callisto@disabled.social
(DIR) Post #Al8wlcwDRmZ5X0jeHA by PhoenixSerenity@beige.party
2024-08-17T19:15:20Z
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Please share more about some of the good work that grassroots & nonprofits & community run orgs/folks are doing in your local area ✌️
(DIR) Post #Al8wlduTpilqXuvmD2 by callisto@disabled.social
2024-08-19T19:15:32Z
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@PhoenixSerenity Newark, Ohio Homeless Outreach meets people where they are and provides weekly meals (hot food and drink in winter), clothing, hygiene supplies and harm reduction kits. They also collaborate with local churches to provide additional services. Bottom-up, grassroots, free of judgment and proselytizing.
(DIR) Post #Al8wlegKxn3GwLJzns by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-08-20T01:47:33Z
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@callisto> Newark, Ohio Homeless Outreach meets people where they are and provides weekly meals... clothing, hygiene supplies and harm reduction kitsAny idea how they, or similar...> Bottom-up, grassroots, free of judgment and proselytizing... homelessness solidarity groups got started?I think about the need for this every time I see people sleeping in doorways. But since 2020, I've been too busy keeping my own head above water to figure it out.@PhoenixSerenity
(DIR) Post #Al9CCG9Pm9gHzQ4AmO by PhoenixSerenity@beige.party
2024-08-20T04:40:08Z
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@strypey @callisto Every grassroots movement starts out differently in every area. I'd contact the folks/orgs doing what you'd like to get involved in doing more of to directly ask how they started out. I started out with setting up free clothes & free food community station, at age 12, to give donations to folks who needed them, in the low income housing project that my family lived in for several years in my youth years & I broadened out from there.
(DIR) Post #AlLcm9UQwoS0SeBzI8 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-08-26T04:34:46Z
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(1/?)@PhoenixSerenity> I'd contact the folks/orgs already doing what you'd like to get involved in doing more ofIf I knew of any, I'd join them. Aotearoa has an elaborate charity-industrial complex that draws in most people who care. A model I'm not interested in supporting, or replicating.I've done ad hoc stuff. Starting with simple things like sitting down for chats with people who look down and out. To see if they need help getting a benefit, or finding affordable housing.@callisto
(DIR) Post #AlLcmCI8WzOf9NSi2a by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-08-26T04:34:46Z
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(2/?)So far, my best result as an individual was in 2020. For a guy I used to see begging near the local McVomits. One day I asked him what his family really needed aside from money, and he said, "a salad would be nice"! So I went to the nearby greengrocer and bought him a couple of bags of veges.He told me he got a lump sum payout related to a health condition that prevented him working. His family had been scraping by on that lump sum payout ever since, which is why he'd started begging.
(DIR) Post #AlLcmENWluthcg02im by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-08-26T04:34:46Z
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(3/?) I was confused by this, but as we talked more, all became clear. The authorities had counted that health payout as "income", and cut off his sickness benefit 🤬I knew that was wrong, not just ethically but against the rules too. I had a phone number for an advocate who works out of a local community house, and I gave it to him. Haven't seen him begging since ; )
(DIR) Post #AlLdvjwYsnvs53U7Hc by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-08-26T04:47:31Z
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(4/?) But there's only so much I can do as an atomised individual. I'm sure much more could be achieved collective action.I'm inspired by a mutual aid model from a 90s TV show called Vengeance Unlimited. This guy helps people get justice, calling on the special skills and connections of people he's helped before.I think people really want to pay it forward, rather than being objectified by charity. This is why #timebanking can work, as Edgar Kahn said in his book No More Throwaway People.