WEBVTT - How Bread Bloc Feeds Unhoused People In San Diego 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:05.200 Al Zone Media. 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:08.640 Hello and welcome to you can happen here exchange today. 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.879 And I'm joined by Luca and Sailor. They're both from Breadlock, 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.400 which is a mutual aid group in San Diego. How 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:16.080 are you doing today? 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:18.040 We're doing great, great. 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:19.320 How are you wonderful? 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:24.439 Yeah, I'm thriving. I've just received my seventy fifth COVID 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:28.240 booster I think, I think, so having a little miserable day, 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.120 but that's okay, not going to get novel coronavirus, which 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:35.000 is always nice. So can you guys start out by 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.479 maybe explaining, well, what Breadblock does, how long it's done it, 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:40.080 and why it does it. 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:44.760 Yeah, So we are a mutual aid group. We mostly 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:48.839 provide hot food. That's like the core of our services. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.800 We feed about one hundred people like like eighty to 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.760 one hundred people depending on the day weekly in East 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:01.960 Village in San Diego. We also clothing and harm reduction 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:09.560 supplies and other things like tampons and plan b when 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.600 we can get our hands on it, and we try 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:15.440 to be we are there like at the same time 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.080 every day. I will not say the exact location, but 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:20.760 if you are interested in getting involved, you can always 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.840 reach out and that's like what we're doing right now, 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:27.800 and that happens weekly and sale am I missing anything? 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.199 Yeah, So this form of what we're doing with bread 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:37.039 block in a more organized way has We've only been 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.559 doing it a few months. However, Initially we started doing 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.280 it in twenty twenty one when I started getting into 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.160 harm reduction stuff and I was working at a strange 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.040 exchange and realized a lot of people would be asking 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.560 for food and we weren't getting that out there, and 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:56.040 so that's why the initial idea came about. And then 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.200 we just had enough people who were willing to do 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:02.120 it in a weekly so that's how we chose that 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.560 location and got started doing that. There's just a lot 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.640 of people down there on those nights, so. 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:10.359 It's time to happen at the same time that a 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.640 harm reduction services happen the Needle Exchange, So it's at 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:16.280 a time when a lot of people are down there 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:20.000 and the amount of time are like collective doing this 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.640 specific thing as exist is. I believe since end of 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:26.600 March early April is how long we've been like consistently 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.120 providing services every week. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.600 Yeah, that's great, that's a long time. So especially through 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.240 like summer can be a difficult time if you don't 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.120 have a house in San Diego, Like it gets increasingly, 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.440 it gets very hot, and particularly the streets themselves get hot, 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.079 and that becomes dangerous for people. 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:43.399 Yeah, exactly. 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.520 So I want to start with like, at some point, right, 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:49.960 say that you were doing a syringe exchange and you 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.200 are like, these people need to be fed. They are hungry, 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.359 and now we're here and you're feeding them every week, right, 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.080 But you had to do a whole lot of things 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:59.840 in between here and there. And like, I know this 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.440 because listeners email me all the time. So many people 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.320 want to do that too, and it might not exist 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.600 where they are. They might not know. So, like, can 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.040 you explain how you went about like seeing a need 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:15.359 and then organizing to meet that need? 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:19.800 Yeah, so I guess what came before that was we 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:25.120 had already built relationships with each other around our leftist 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:28.720 ideals and art and protesting and different stuff. 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:30.320 So we already knew a lot. 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:32.280 Of people who who were interested in mutual aid and 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:36.839 that capacity. Yeah, but I will say things like Instagram 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:41.280 have helped just meet more people who are looking to 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:43.080 get involved in mutual aid. 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:43.960 Yeah. 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.160 Yeah, Like Saylah said, we had like had spent some 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:50.200 time building community with each other and getting a core 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:53.080 group of people that trust each other, that had gone 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:57.920 to protests together, that were maybe in like affinity groups 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.440 already with each other, and then there was just sort 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.320 of like enough of us that were in community with 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.480 each other at the time that when Sala was like, 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.720 the encampment ban is like really making things so much 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.680 worse for people in communities and we really need to 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.560 do something, we were like, all just like it just 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:17.599 happened because we were all sitting in a room together 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:21.880 one night after a like social event, and Sala was like, 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.800 we need to talk about this, and we were like, okay, yeah, 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.920 we like need to do this, and we had enough 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:32.360 people where we could pull together a first distro and 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:38.080 then a second and then gradually adding like more organizations 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.679 so that we could continue doing it sustainably over time. 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.960 Yeah. Yeah, that's like I want to be opinion the 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.040 camping ban, because the camping ban is making things worse 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:49.839 for people who are already having a hard time just 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.000 surviving here, and it fucking sucks and it's tog glorious fault. 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.719 You shouldn't bothe Yeah, let's talk about though, Like I 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:58.840 want to get into nuts and bolts, right, feeing one 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.120 hundred people? Right, you need to and ass pad, you 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:03.240 need loads of food, you need a place where you 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:07.640 can cook. How did you identify all those things and 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:09.360 how did you get to a place where you could 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.560 regularly have those things? 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:16.080 So in twenty twenty one, when I had initially started 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.120 this with kind of a different group of people, but 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.719 there were definitely over us, we just did it and 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.400 like used my mom's kitchen and found some big pops 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:27.000 and just made it happen. And I feel like, if 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.719 you have the will to make it happen, you're going 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.360 to figure it out. And you know, maybe in the 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:36.200 beginning it was a lot more chaotic, which you know, 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.080 we are anarchists, so we're okay. 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:38.560 With the chaos. 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:43.040 But it just after doing it a week after week, 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.680 it just became more streamlined. And you know, we just 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:51.359 buy a lot of essential bulk food and we have 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:53.599 a few giant pops. 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:55.520 Yeah, we like to make soup a lot. 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:57.120 Yeah. 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:01.160 Currently our kitchen is like like our cooking equipment includes 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:04.680 two large pots and a rice cooker that someone recently 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.640 donated to us. And then we needed a fridge, so 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.400 we got a free fridge off offer up and cleaned 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:14.960 it up and put some cool stickers on it and 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:18.560 then plugged it into a garage. Currently, the kitchen that 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.680 we use is like a couple of us just like 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:25.400 live together, and so we use our kitchen and we 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.960 have access to our garage and we just stored the 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.800 supplies in the garage. We stored the fridge in the garage, 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:36.480 and we make it work through donations we get on Instagram. 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.640 So we knew some comrades that work with the community fridges. 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.120 There's like some community fridges in San Diego, and so 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:48.000 they already had a relationship with a grocery store and 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.359 so we were able to hop in on that and 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.919 we get some donations from that. We get some donations 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:58.400 from What's sale the group. 0:06:58.400 --> 0:06:59.920 Oh Orchporchlight. 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.039 Yeah, and there's so much food waste that I feel 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.640 like if we were to find the right people, we 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.039 could be fully self supporting on just things that would 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:10.080 be thrown away alone. 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:10.920 Yeah, definitely. 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.160 Yeah, we just have to meet the right people in 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.440 order to do that. But we're getting there. Yeah, And 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:17.600 I do want to say the kitchen is a small 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:20.200 slash regular sized kitchen, so you don't have to have 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.760 some big, crazy warehouse typed kitchen to make this happen. 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.720 Yeah, and then you're feeding people right likeuman you're doing 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.400 it like in the afternoon or evening. Have you found 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:33.480 there are things that you said you like soup, but 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:35.680 I know, like we fed a lot of people at 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.280 the border last winter, right, and we found out that 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:41.640 like certain things work, certain things didn't work, and we 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:45.120 always tried to keep it vegan because of people's religious 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.560 needs preferences. Right, is there anything like that that you 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:50.080 found that works or doesn't work. 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.840 We have done a lot of chili with our squad, 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.160 and I know that Luca has done a lot of curry. 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:58.840 So there are certain things and they can both be 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.760 easily made vegan. Initially, a lot of people when we 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.520 would have vegan stuff would ask for me alternatives, to 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.320 which I understand people, you know, they don't always have 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.920 access to protein, So we tried out both options when 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:13.280 we can. 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:14.080 Nice. 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.760 Yeah, it varies what we have because our group kind 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:22.080 of functions with for like autonomous squads, like well semi 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.800 autonomous that take turns doing the distress so that you're 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:29.520 only really responsible for it once a month, which helps 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:30.520 reduce burnout. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.280 Yeah, definitely, how does that work? Explain how you came 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.079 up with that and how it's organized. 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.200 Yeah, So this was kind of like something we've been 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:41.920 talking about for a while. Some of us are like 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.439 more into the theory than others, but we're just kind 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:46.960 of talking about, like, oh, well, like how do we 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.719 get more people involved, because I think what happens oftentimes 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.040 with these mutual aid groups is there's like a lot 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:54.319 of people sitting in a group chat and there's like 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.200 a small core of people who do end up doing 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:02.000 the majority of the labor, and that often results in 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:05.160 burnout for those people and building a resentment between like 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:07.079 the people who are doing a lot and the other 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.200 people because I think also like sometimes people feel left 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.080 out and they don't feel like they can get involved, 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:13.840 and then they feel like the people who are doing 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:15.920 the core of the labor are like in charge and 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.120 they have to defer to them, which creates a lot 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.560 of problems, which I'm not saying like we don't have 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.400 any of those problems, Like we're still trying to work 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:29.240 out the kinks, but the squads sort of like dynamic 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.080 makes it so that groups of about like five to 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.200 ten because a distro you need about like six people 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:39.040 to make it happen, so about five to ten people 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.319 take turns, so you just rotate, so you know when 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.079 your day is. It's once a month that you are 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.800 responsible for the distro and you are responsible for choosing 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.160 the food that you're cooking, making sure it gets cooked, 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:56.120 organizing with your other comrades, getting the donations, all of 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.040 that stuff. But you can always ask the larger group 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:01.720 for help or extra hands if you need it. Yeah, 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:04.400 But it sort of shares that like responsibility because I 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.720 think the most stressful part oftentimes is like, oh, the 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.160 distro happening tonight is on me and I and if 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.560 I don't do it, it's not going to happen. Yeah, 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.200 And so it sort of spreads like that sort of labor. 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:19.120 But we have members who like show up to every 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.880 single distro because they want to, and that's totally fine, 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.920 even if they're in like whatever designated squad they're in, right. 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.360 Yeah, or some people who shall like once every few 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.320 months because they have other stuff going on, you know. 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:32.640 So it's very open and you don't have to be 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:33.200 in a squad. 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.040 You could just to join whenever you have the time, 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.040 with whoever week it is. So it's pretty loose, yeah, 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.280 I would sell, but it does give a good sense 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:41.880 of structure. 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.920 Yeah, that helps a lot. I remember one day last year, 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:51.000 that's winter, and I was out building shelters with an 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:55.520 Uzbek guy and a few Kurdish guys, and we built 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.480 these shelters and we built three of them. And afterwards, 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.520 so sitting down with some of my friends who are 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:04.000 also there as volunteers, and they're all anarchists too, we 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.040 each trust each other what we did. And then one 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:07.800 of them said, so what do we all learn? What 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:09.480 did you learn when you did that today? 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:09.760 Right? 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.000 I think that's a really valuable question that we should 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.960 be asking ourselves in our organizing spaces. So like from 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.599 your first distrow to now, I want to ask what 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:18.400 did you learn? 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:23.920 I would say, we've really learned how to trust each other. 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.880 We're working on, you know, how to get consensus models, 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.720 how to split the labor between different people, how to 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.200 work with different people, and also, yeah, like I said 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:37.480 in the beginning, how to really how to trust each other, 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.720 which you know, we all want to see the revolution 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:42.560 happen at some point and so I feel like one 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:44.760 of the most important and valuable things we can be 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:48.560 doing is building relationships and communities with each other where 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.400 we can actually rely on each other. And so having 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.640 a mutual task really helps with that. 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:55.080 Yeah. 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:57.960 Yeah, And I think for me, like we've like tried 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:01.040 to do stuff in the past, like the and I 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.880 think the issue we've always run into was that, like 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.400 sometimes there's like a tendency to want too much structure 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:10.720 right away and be like, oh, if we don't have 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.079 everything planned down, we don't know how everything's going to work, 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:15.080 then we can't do it, and we need to figure 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.960 everything out beforehand. And we learned a lot like doing it, 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.800 and even like we didn't have everything figured out, like 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.480 we're still working on like our consensus structure. We're still 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.360 working on like how we're going to make like big 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.760 decisions as a group and like when the squads can 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:34.760 make their own decisions and when the group can make 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.480 their own decisions, and like we don't have everything figured out, 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:41.719 like it's very like loose, but we didn't need that, 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:43.920 and we're we've been able to do a distro for 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.480 like months and we don't have everything figured out. We 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.280 have something we had enough to get us started, and 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.520 we're like working on like slowly adding things as we 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:57.199 need to, without like overburdening ourselves because I think sometimes 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:01.040 like lots of layers and lots of company exodies can 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.760 really make it difficult to organize and adapt to what's 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:05.640 happening on the ground. 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.760 Definitely, I think, yeah, we can overcomplicate it and like 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:13.440 be too anxious. Talking of anxious, I'm anxious. So we 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:17.559 have yet to pivot to advertisements. So let's do that 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:30.240 and then we'll come back and we're back. Okay. So 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:33.760 you spoke about like a lot about the logistics of cooking, 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.679 which is great, but I know from experience of feeding 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.280 hungry people can be a challenge, right, and it's none 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:44.040 one's fault, especially when people are hungry, Like we're not 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:47.400 our ourselves. It's a whole advertising campaign built around that. 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.120 So how do you organize your distroage such should everybody 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.880 feels that they're being taken care of, Everybody feels safe 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:55.680 and knows that they're going to get enough to eat. 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.120 Yeah, Well, that also goes back to something more we. 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.280 Learned is we try to have enough people at the 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:04.720 distro so we can have different people doing different things, 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.480 and sometimes that means one person is just walking around 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.120 talking to people, de escalating a situation if needs be. 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.079 And then we also figured out that at the end 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.640 when we run out of food in order, but people 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:20.880 who have been waiting in line don't get mad, which 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:23.120 it's understandable, you know, they've been waiting in line and 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:24.400 there's no more food than they're hungry. 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:24.680 Yeah. 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.800 Of course, we try to have like different snacks and 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.200 like muffins or granola bars and water just to hand 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:34.160 out at the end for those people who still need something. 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:38.480 And so sometimes we have music and we all just 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:43.120 try to bring a good energy and so far nothing 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.000 that we haven't been able to handle. 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:45.280 How to happen. 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.320 Yeah, yeah, that makes sense, I know. We we found 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:51.640 the music was really helpful and we were disributing food 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.360 when really big groups at the border like play some 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.360 music or have a friend who plays music plays some music, 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.200 and then we'd always ask folks from the group who 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.239 we were feeding to volunteer to help us in that. Oh, 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.040 it helped us so become language barriers and stuff. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.200 That's happened a couple of times as well, where people 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:11.280 have just stepped up and wanted to help, which has 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:11.680 been great. 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:14.960 Yeah, it's nice and it gives us all. Like part 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:17.440 of what we're doing with mutual Aid isn't just meeting 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.760 material needs. It's also like the difference between solidarity and charity, right, 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.320 Like we're there because we care about you as people, 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.080 not just as like hunger mouths that we can take 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:31.120 off a spreadsheet like and working together is an integral 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:35.200 part of that. It's what distinguishes us from charity model. 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.440 And thankfully most of the time we have enough people 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.480 that if somebody needs to step aside and have a 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:42.800 one on one conversation with somebody because that's what they 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.040 need in that moment, and we can do that. 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.520 Yeah, having floaters is really important. 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.920 Like we always have like two people at least two 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:53.160 people serving food, and then we have like a snack table, 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:55.480 water table usually, and then we have a section for 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:59.120 harm reduction that usually gets served on like another table, 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.640 and then we have like a section for clothes depending 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:04.560 on what we have, and people sort of like go 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.320 down the assembly line kind of like going down grabbing 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:09.760 their different things, and we give people like plastic bags 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.520 that we get from grocery stores so they can get 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:16.000 their things, but we also have like floaters usually so 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.800 that like if someone's like having like a medical issue, 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:24.400 or someone's like upset or whatever is going on, someone 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:26.880 can like step aside and spend some time with them. 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.760 Like the other day, we had a woman who was 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:33.160 not feeling well because of the heat, and she had 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:35.800 been out and she needed to sit down, so we 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:37.720 like grabbed one of our chairs and we sat her 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:39.880 down and got her some water and just like talked 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:41.680 to her. And we had a couple people who could 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:43.960 step aside and do that, and then everyone else just 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:48.320 could keep like feeding people without it kind of stopping things. 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:49.880 But she still got what she needed. 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.200 And during that heat waves at one of the distros, 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:57.720 I remember you ran across and thought somebody gating because 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:01.200 they really were needed electrolyte. So we're lucky that we 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:03.520 have enough people that we get to be able. 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:05.760 To do stuff like that when we need to, right 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:09.439 and I imagine that regularity is really important, Like people 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:11.760 know that you will be there and that they can 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.879 come and you will feed them. Like that builds trust, 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:18.560 right like, and everyone I think benefits from mittal structure 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:20.679 and being unhealthed. It can be really fucking hard to 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:21.880 find structure. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:27.480 Yes, exactly, and it's very hard to get like home 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:28.200 cooked food. 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.240 Yeah, this is something I've encountered living in my cart, 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.919 Like it's hard to get healthy food. The food you 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:38.560 buy is shit. It's more expensive and it's less good 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:42.439 for you. And like these things compound over time to 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.119 have health and psychological consequences. 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:48.040 Yeah, everything we cook we eat as well. 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:49.919 And you know, if we're cooking or we're helping out 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:51.400 with sister, of course it's that's. 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.240 A mutual and mutual aid. We can also eat it. 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:57.280 Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely something else we learned at the 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.280 border was like, especially if we're looking something that's maybe 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:02.800 not a cultural cuisine because we're meeting people from all 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.399 over the world. A lot of times, it's like, like 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.560 you were saying, chili and courage, it's like hot wet food, right, 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:13.159 Like you know that big semi liquid pan of chili 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.840 or whatever that we would cook and spaghetti and like 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:18.360 folks being like what's that, We're like, oh, do I'm 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:19.480 going to eat some? Do you want some? 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:20.400 Yeah? 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.280 And like I honestly had some of the happiest moments 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:27.200 of last year, just like I remember one day. I've 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.800 been building yurts all day with an osbat guy, and 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:31.560 then we sat down and had our beans and just 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:33.639 like talked about our lives and it was really sweet. 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:34.840 Yeah. 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.159 I think that that is a moment of solidarity that 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.280 you don't get when you're you know, I've seen NGOs 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:44.720 and the US military tossing MRIs or refugees, and I 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:45.480 think the same thing. 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:46.320 Yeah. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.720 Yeah, No, there shouldn't be like a line between like 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:53.280 you and the people that you're providing mutual aid to. 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:56.760 I mean, like it should You should never give someone 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.119 food that you're not willing to eat yourself. And like 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.879 if someone's hungry while we're cooking, like they can totally 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:05.359 eat the food that we're making too. 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:07.600 It's not like cordoned off. 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:08.879 Yeah. 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.760 Like, of course, we like, you know, we wear our 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:14.959 ppe and we like you know, aren't getting our hands 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.399 or whatever. But I mean because a lot of the 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:20.399 people who are like who do provide mutual aid and 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.360 work in mutual aid groups like, are also people who 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:28.520 may face houselessness or have trouble paying for groceries or something. 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:32.199 Yeah, yeah, for sure, Yeah, there's no separation you know 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:33.920 between us and them at the end. 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:34.200 Of the day. 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.680 Yeah, I think that's super important. So I want to 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.520 talk about the camping ban. Maybe let's take another rab break. 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:42.160 We'll talk about the camping them when we come back. 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.760 We are back. We are now discussing the topic which 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:57.760 I love to talk about, which is evil things that 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:02.400