Let’s Get Shannon Back in the Business of Change

Please join us in providing community care to, and through, our friend, collaborator, and badass instigator Shannon Downey.

Since June 2020, Shannon (aka Badass Cross Stitch) has been traveling across the US in an RV to support people in their journeys as activists, building community and leading grassroots organizing to fight systems of oppression. She has organized and facilitated hundreds of skill-building workshops on topics ranging from bystander intervention to craftivism. And she has engaged tens of thousands of people across the world through both in-person and online community advocacy and art making projects. To say we need her in, and well-equipped to continue, these efforts right now is a ridiculous understatement.

Check out her 2021 Annual Report for examples and quantified details about her impact in the movements she leads and supports.

What happened: On the morning of June 19, 2022, Shannon was driving her RV, Furiosa, north from Pittsburgh toward Erie, PA, when a driver under the influence ran his SUV into her rig at 70 mph. The RV was totaled, and some of her belongings ended up either on the highway or broken inside the rig. While her physical injuries were minor and thankfully the other driver survived, the damage to Shannon’s home/workspace and vehicle, supplies, and personal belongings was considerable. This accident also acutely impacted Shannon’s capacity to continue her work of building and activating communities through activism, craftivism, and grassroots organizing. Check out @shannondowney2 and @badasscrossstitch for more.

What we need to do now: Equip Shannon with the funds to do what she does with and for the community, in whatever ways she decides to do it next. While Shannon is physically safe and temporarily housed with her parents in Boston, she no longer has her home, vehicle, supplies, or personal belongings. She needs a place to work and live (whether on wheels or not), transportation, supplies, and to replace possessions she had with her on the road.

Funds will go to: Shannon Downey, for use in securing the personal and professional resources she needs to continue her work. These may include but are not limited to transportation, housing, workspace, lodging, art and organizing supplies, and personal items.

Who’s asking: A small group of Shanon’s friends and co-conspirators: DuShaun Branch Pollard, Jennifer Friedrich, Jamie Kelter Davis, Diane Knoepke, Elena Quintana, and Jenille Ramos. We are regularly activated and guided by Shannon’s activism and leadership. We are asking for you to join us in ensuring she has what she needs to, in her words, “inspire others to take action, think, discuss, engage with democracy and their community, and find some digital/analog balance.”