La Vida Veeta

Support a Community Coalition: Reclaiming our Neighborhoods (Milwaukee)

This past week I got connected with this amazing Milwaukee-based organization- Reclaiming our Neighborhoods (RON). Here’s the deal: Milwaukee is a city that is decreasing in population, has an old housing stock, has wide swaths that have been actively neglected by the city and state, and has pretty harsh weather. As a result, there are significant parts of the city whose housing is in bad shape. Now let me just say- this in no way reflects on the people living there. More often than not, it’s due to absentee landlords who can’t be bothered to fix their properties, or it’s homeowners who simply don’t have the capital to work on costly repairs. RON is a neighborhood-led coalition that seeks to inventory Milwaukee’s housing stock to determine properties that need repairs, but more importantly it gets to know the folks living in that housing to determine what support they can get set up with. It can be everything from connecting people to Habitat for Humanity (which does a lot of major housing repairs pro bono), working with families to ensure they get connected with city services to help with pest problems, heating and cooling issues, utility outages, landscaping, or everything in between. And finally, RON helps renters get the (sometimes legal) support they need to deal with landlords who actively let their properties decay. If you’re interested in reading their 2022 Housing Report, check it out here. So here’s the deal: this org needs help. It is undertaking an absolutely massive task of inventorying hundreds of thousands of properties to provide essential help, and is fully non-profit. If you find yourself in the Milwaukee area, please let me know and let’s do some volunteer outreach together (I’m planning on getting started sometime in October). If you’re not, you can still help. If you’re able/interesting in helping, please consider donating some cash via their online platform here. Housing is essential, and having a house with working heat in the winter in Wisconsin can be life or death. Please consider getting involved!

Help Fund Family Soup (Reno)

Ah, Family Soup. It’s hard to argue that providing food is one of the most immediate and critical forms of support we can provide to our neighbors who need it. Food distribution is also one of the easiest ways to dip your toes into the water of mutual aid. I’ve mentioned Family Soup on the blog before, and here’s the cliff notes: Family Soup is a mutual aid group distributing free food at the Believe sign in downtown Reno every week, rain or shine. In addition, they’re involved in many harm reduction efforts through the region (including this year’s Save a Life Day, which I meant to post last week.) That being said, they need help. Regularly purchasing, preparing, and sharing food takes time, money, and energy. If you’re interested in donating your time and/or energy, I highly recommend reaching out to their Instagram page (linked above in this paragraph). For details on how to donate food/get involved, check out their Instagram story providing details here. They’ll even pick up food from your house! If you’re in a place to donate money, that’s extremely helpful as well! The best way to do so is via their Venmo, linked here (and handle shown in the graphic next to this paragraph). If you’re not a Venmo person, hit them up on Instagram- there are most likely other ways to support monetarily! If interested- I highly recommend also checking out the mutual aid groups that were part of Save a Life Day. I’ll be regularly checking their pages and will post any upcoming opportunities with them on the blog.

Fall Clothing Swap: Queer The Land (QTL) (Seattle)

Who doesn’t love a clothing swap??? (If you answered no, you’re a hater and/or have never been to one or you went to one and didn’t find anything cute and to that I say sis, let’s work through that trauma together). Well, there’s one happening (checks watch) in about an hour! Queer The Land (QTL) is a Seattle based collaborative project centered in queer, trans, indigenous, and POC self-determination and collective land ownership and labor. They’ve done some amazing things, including establishing a safe space of transitional housing for QT2BIPOC individuals facing housing insecurity in Seattle. They also host defense classes, community gardening, and mutual aid events. And oh, did I mention they’re hosting a clothing swap?? (Cause they are). If you’re free today, please come by with some of your closet items you don’t find yourself wearing anymore! It goes without saying (but I’m gonna say it anyways): make sure your shit is clean and in good condition. Also please be aware that this is being hosted in a safe space for QT2BIPOC folks so if you’re cis/hetero/white, please just be aware of that and don’t act a damn fool (don’t think I need to say that to anyone on the blog but I’m still going to because people will always surprise you!) If you’d like to come, please RSVP here. They will provide the event address after RSVPing (but know that it is on Beacon Hill!) Show up, show out, and help support an amazing organization. If you’re not able to attend this (very last minute) event (sorry about that ) don’t worry- they have a pop up market in October that I’ll post way further in advance. And hell even if you can’t attend today but want to help support this group’s awesome efforts, check out their website here to see ways you can help support!