Every One Thriving

Dear Beloved Community,

Everyone's Thriving is a group that has been meeting and imagining ways to support thriving and structures of care for participants in the No Big Deal Sit (NBD). As participants in the sit, we seek to bring what we are learning about mutual aid to the collective. We’ve been meeting, learning, growing, dancing, and collecting funds, allowing them to flow through. The flow is directed to Black and Brown folks with specific needs.

There are many different definitions and examples of mutual aid. Any time you share your assets directly with your community or collective, you engage in mutual aid. Sometimes, communities and collectives organize more formal structures to provide for the needs of their members, redistribute resources, and exchange services to ensure every participant has what they need to thrive. Many of the more formal mutual aid networks today are informed by earlier examples of sharing community resources, such as the Free African Union Society founded in 1780 and the Black Panthers’ health clinics, food pantries, and free breakfast programs in the 1960s and 70s.

Why are we doing this, you ask? We believe everyone should have the opportunity to thrive. We also understand that capitalism disproportionately hurts Black and Brown folks!

With your support, we raised over $32,000 and allowed it to flow through. We feel blessed with our efforts because we were directly able to offer relief and reduce stress. Reducing stress matters because stress is a high marker that diminishes our well-being. While we all have some measure of stress in our lives, for Black and Brown folks, the additional burden of racism compounds that stress and leads to negative health effects.

We would like to continue our efforts because, as we all witnessing, the stress levels for Black and Brown folks are not lessening. We ask for your continued support or become a first-time supporter, join us. To complete our goal for 2023 and meet the current needs of 2024, we are envisioning a goal of $30K.

We can do this. It is an amazing way for each of us to participate in Every One Thriving! Please know that no amount is too large or too small; it’s all about creating and fostering mutuality. We deeply appreciate your participation and send you our love and gratitude.

With love and mutual aid from the core group,

Ashnie, Queen Kenia Marie, Bridget, Carlin, Izetta, Mel, Nic