Greater Long Beach Mutual Aid Network

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Greater Long Beach Mutual Aid Network (GLBMAN) has provided weekly deliveries of fresh food, baby supplies, and other essential items to over 100 families facing systemic food insecurity in the greater Long Beach area. As an all volunteer-run group, we have relied on the immense support of our community to ensure that our operations have run smoothly week after week for nearly two years. 

We are here now to ask for your financial support. The ongoing pandemic continues to increase disparity in access to basic material needs. Your donation will allow us to sustain our efforts to support the 100+ families we serve.

The mutual aid network has a proven history of doing this work: we've been doing it since spring 2020! Here are some of the steps we take weekly to ensure families recieve aid:

• We source fresh produce from local food recovery organization Food Forward, and we rely on volunteer-based labor to pack and distribute groceries each week, so families are always guaranteed some fresh produce delivered to their door each week, regardless of our funds.
• Crowdfunding will allow us to make weekly purchases of rice and beans as well as baby supplies, such as baby wipes and diapers: important ways to bulk up our grocery bags, and to make sure that children in the network are receiving basic necessities.
• Some funds also go towards mileage reimbursements for our volunteer delivery drivers: a small way we can say thank you to our hardworking volunteers!

Families shouldn’t have to worry about whether to pay rent or buy food, but that is the basic reality for so many people right now. Our mission is to build solidarity with the people of Long Beach and its environs by creating resources that break from and resist the capitalist system. 

Mutual aid is a radical act of love and care. As GLBMAN looks to the future, we envision building a collective community where we share resources and care for each other and the most vulnerable. Through material aid, community care, and activism, we continue to work towards this goal even past the height of the pandemic. We hope that one day, our existence as an organization is no longer necessary because the people of the greater Long Beach area can fully embody values of mutual aid.