Aid for Black mom, activist, & cancer survivor

Kehna Kirkland, a Black mother, activist, and cancer survivor who has lived in Philadelphia for the last 40 years, is seeking community support for childcare and domestic labor expenses while she recovers from chemotherapy. Please read more below and donate if you are able! Thank you :)

Who could forget the fall before the 2020 election? After 6 months of coronavirus lockdowns and a summer of historic unrest, Donald Trump was running for a second term and threatening to overturn the results of the election if he didn’t like them. Across the country, his supporters openly advocated for violence to suppress the vote. In Philadelphia, progressive organizers met to discuss the very serious possibility of an electoral coup and how our city would be one of the most hotly contested battlegrounds. It was in this context, canvassing South Philadelphia neighborhoods with information about safe and legal mail-in voting, that I first met Kehna Kirkland.

From the moment we met, I was blown away by Kehna’s passion, her initiative, her integrity, and her intensity. Kehna was a former grocery store employee who decided to get involved in this election as a canvasser. She had never been involved in politics or organizing before, but had always aspired to be a changemaker. After the election, Kehna got even more deeply involved in organizing, becoming an active member in several Philly Thrive circles.

As we spent more time together, Kehna and I became more than just comrades in struggle; we developed a loving and supportive friendship through our shared interests in music, food, history, and solidarity. We have both always shared a deep commitment to lifelong cross-cultural learning, fair decision-making processes, complex truths and self-reflection, and finding and creating opportunities for joy in the midst of hard work and social struggle. In the summer of 2021, Kehna and I were both hired as Philly Thrive staff, and our teamwork led to events like the membership circle fair, mutual aid school supply giveaway, and lots more phone-banking and door-to-door canvassing. Then she got diagnosed with breast cancer.

For about a year, Kehna continued to work part-time as an organizer while being treated for her cancer. But about six months ago, her illness progressed to the point where she could no longer juggle her work duties with her own health needs and her responsibilities as a parent. Nowadays, she and her family mostly get by on food stamps, and with the help of friends and community members. When our country’s healthcare system is broken, when billionaires are holding our economy hostage, when pollution and racism and sexism have made Black women uniquely vulnerable to chronic illnesses without any kind of social safety net - who fills the gap? We do, with mutual aid and community support! Kehna is hoping to raise $3,000 to buy new clothes ($1,200) and furniture ($800) for her 4 young children, as well as to pay for a professional deep cleaning of her South Philly row home ($1,000). No donation is too small! Thank you in advance for your generosity