This guide was originally published on June 7, 2023. In the spirit of Giving Tuesday, we’re revisiting insightful resources like this one that illuminate the power of community giving and the essence of mutual aid in transforming lives. The South End’s mutual aid groups, highlighted in this guide, serve as a vital lifeline in our community, offering direct support and resources to those in need — a testament to the strength and compassion that flourish in our community when we support each other.
Need help with food, clothing, or other essentials, or want to give directly to our South End neighbors? South Seattle has a number of wonderful mutual aid groups that help sustain and support our communities. Mutual aid is a practice of direct community and resource sharing to help meet each other’s needs — typically without ties to nonprofits or other organizations. Instead of charity, mutual aid operates in solidarity, recognizing that our health and well-being are bound up in collective care.
Sounds great, but how do you find these mutual aid groups?
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Most groups have an Instagram or Facebook account, but it’s hard to know where to look if you don’t know what you’re searching for. The goal of this guide is to make that a little easier. If you’re looking for anything, from clothes to food to toiletries, diapers, and baby formula, you can find it through these groups. Looking for ways to help? You can find that here too!
Listed below are some of the South End’s mutual aid groups, how to contact them, and what they most need help with right now. For information about starting your own mutual aid group, check out this Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit.
Know of a group that should be on our list? Send us a tip at Community@SeattleEmerald.org.
This guide will be updated periodically, so check back for current info.
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New this month: Temperatures are rising and wildfire season is already here. Low-income and unhoused communities typically need help with summer necessities, like box fans and sunscreen. Before donating, make sure to ask what items are most needed.
Updated to include: Super Familia King County, Seattle Food Not Bombs, From the Heart PNW, Homies Helping Homies, Shuttsie Love, and WashMasks.
Across Seattle
The first and only grassroots group in the United States led by unaccompanied and undocumented youth organizers, Super Familia King County is a mutual aid group organized to resist traditional social services that can endanger unaccompanied and undocumented youth. It aims to create community and support immigrant youth.
Seattle Community Fridge
Seattle Community Fridge is a mutual aid group based in fridges across Seattle stocked with food and other basic items for people to take as they need. Find all of its locations and food donation safety guidelines on its website. Its fridges are stocked with free food and non-perishable items.
Location: Various
Email: SeattleCommunityFridge@gmail.com
Instagram: @Seattle CommunityFridge
Venmo: @SeattleCommunityFridge
Most in demand: Currently emphasizing donations of all types of menstrual products. Food, such as non-PB&J sandwiches, tofu, canned hearty meals like ravioli and chili, sweet treats, and soda.
To donate: Check out the food safety guidelines before donating. Donate at any of its community fridges. To donate a fridge, contact Seattle Community Fridge here. To host a fridge, sign up here. For large-scale donations, please fill out this form.
To volunteer: Check out its volunteer application and join its email list.
Central Seattle
A Will & A Way Mutual Aid
A Will & A Way is a non-hierarchical mutual aid collective that has outreach teams distributing in Capitol Hill every Wednesday at 7 p.m. The organization values being a true mutual aid collective rather than a charity, and as such, tries to connect with individuals in the neighborhood about specific needs rather than bulk supply. Right now, given the increase in sweeps, it is working on providing supplies like sleeping bags and tents.
Most in demand: Tents, tarps, blankets, clothing, footwear, and cash.
To donate: Message the collective through Instagram to arrange for donation.
Food Not Bombs is a global movement about sharing free food. While branches operate individually, each is dedicated to mutual aid over charity; uses horizontal decision making; is opposed to all forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.; is dedicated to nonviolence and promotion of veganism and vegetarianism; and is founded on the belief that food is a human right, not a privilege. It serves two weekly hot meals every Saturday and Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in Occidental Square in Pioneer Square, under the glass shelter.
CID
“The Eggrolls” Little Saigon Mutual Aid and ChuMinh Tofu
ChuMinh Tofu has been hosting free hot, vegan meals and distributing survival supplies each Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., at 1043 S. Jackson St. in Little Saigon. Organizers known as “The Eggrolls” also organize free clothes, bags, toiletries, snacks, drinks, masks, and hand sanitizer along with the Sunday meal each week.
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Location: 1043 S. Jackson St.
Email: TheEggrollCrew@gmail.com
Facebook: ChuMinh Tofu and Vegan Deli
Instagram: @ChuMinhTofu
PayPal: TheEggrollCrew@gmail.com
Venmo: @TheEggrolls
Most in demand: Backpacks and bags with handles (from plastic grocery bags with handles to tote bags); good-condition sunglasses, brimmed hats, umbrellas, light-colored long-sleeved shirts; new and travel-sized or multi-pack chapstick, deodorant, sunscreen, and lotion; bandages; menstrual pads (not tampons); new socks; coolers of any size and kind.
To donate: Donate items by emailing TheEggrollCrew@gmail.com to arrange for drop-off on Sunday mornings before 10:30 a.m.. Donate cash to its Paypal.
To volunteer: It needs support on Saturday mornings to cut and prepare tofu and veggies from 9 to 11 a.m., and support each Sunday serving food, picking up trash, and distributing supplies.
CID Mutual Aid
The Seattle Chinatown-International District Mutual Aid (CID MA) team provides direct aid using a framework of anti-racism, anti-oppression, and cultural lens to bridge language, medical, and survival needs to residents living unsheltered in the CID. It has been providing rapid response since 2020 to residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, city sweeps, heat waves, smoke, and emergency response.
Most in demand: Tents, sleeping bags, tarps, heaters, hand warmers, wool socks, backpacks and winter coats. CID has a more specific list of items available through its Amazon wishlist.
To donate: Contact the team to arrange for item donation. Please send monetary donations through its CashApp.
To volunteer: Fill out CID Mutual Aid’s volunteer form.
South Seattle
Long Haul Kitchen
Long Haul Kitchen provides mutual aid for unsheltered and homeless folks in Georgetown and SODO. Volunteers are needed each Sunday to cook and deliver food.
(North) Beacon Hill Mutual Aid
This group provides supplies to homeless neighbors, including water in the summer, warming kits and propane for cooking in the winter, and also posts fundraisers for community members at risk of losing housing or unable to pay bills.
Email: HOCSBeaconHill@gmail.com
Instagram: @beaconhillma
Twitter: @BeaconHillMA
Patreon: www.patreon.com/BeaconHillMA
CashApp: $HOCSBeaconHill2
PayPal: HOCSBeaconHill@gmail.com
To donate: Give directly to their PayPal, CashApp, or Patreon to help, or check their Instagram for more ways to help.
Beauty in Our Community
This group includes BIPOC and allying youth in South Seattle who are determined for change and passionate about mutual aid. They also help with Sunday distributions every week at ChuMinh Tofu in the CID, listed above.
Email: 3eautyInOurCommunity@gmail.com
Instagram: @BeautyInOurCommunity
Most in demand: Nonperishable food, menstrual products, bags, tents, blankets, clothes like pants and T-shirts (made of long-lasting materials), and baby food and formula. The group is currently accepting gift cards.
To donate: Email or contact the collective on Instagram for more information on donating items.
To volunteer: Fill out the Beauty in Our Community Application to join this South Seattle youth collective, or volunteer with them at ChuMinh Tofu on Sundays.
For the People 206
For the People (FTP) is a grassroots, community-led, on-the-ground organization centered around community building. Its mission is to dismantle oppressive systems through compassion, companionship, love, and hot meals!
Instagram: @FTP206
CashApp: $FTP206
Venmo: @FTP206
Most in demand: Tents and sleeping bags.
To donate: Contact FTP on Instagram for more information on donating items.
NORTH SEATTLE
Based out of Lake City, From the Heart PNW offers a weekly Thursday sack lunch and supplies from 12 to 3 p.m. at NE 125th St. and 30th Ave. NE, as well as a Pizza Party Saturday and Hot Breakfast Sundays from 12 to 3 p.m. at 1251 33rd Ave. NE. You can drop off supplies at the meals on Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday, or message over social media or email.
Homies Helping Homies distributes food, PPE, first-aid kits, and cold weather essentials in northwest Seattle. Donation needs vary as the weather changes, but cash donations are always accepted over Venmo or CashApp, and you can message the group on Instagram for more donation information.
Instagram: @HomiesHelpingHomiesSeattle
CashApp: $Homies4HomiesSeattle
Venmo: @Homies4HomiesSeattle
To donate: Donate through its Venmo or CashApp, or message the group on Instagram for item requests.
The Shuttsie Love Community Pantry, located on NE 38th and 110th St. in the Lake City/Meadowbrook area of Seattle, offers food, hygiene, and resources to neighbors facing food or living insecurity. Open 24/7 and celebrating its 2nd anniversary in June, it builds trust and safety through love and care. By nurturing each other, members hope for a more even playing field where everyone can prosper.
Contact: Website Form
Instagram: @Shuttsie_Love
CashApp: $VShutts
PayPal: PayPal.me/ShuttsieLove
Venmo: @Shuttsie_Love_Pantry
Most in demand: Anything someone can make with hot water, like oatmeal packets, ramen, and hot cocoa. Snacks, granola and fruit bars, sweets, canned fruits, fresh fruit, canned meats, drinks. It also has an Amazon wishlist.
To donate: Drop-off at the pantry on NE 38th and 110th St.
To volunteer: Message to arrange a day to come in and clean the fridge and pantry!
South and East King County
South King County and Eastside Covid19 Mutual Aid
South King County and Eastside Covid19 Mutual Aid (SKC&E) provides grocery and essential item delivery, resource mapping and pod mapping, and survivor support in South King County and the Eastside. Resource mapping and pod mapping are strategies it offers to connect individuals with the resources they need to support each other in the community. It needs support with buying and delivering groceries to families and individuals, administrative tasks and coordination, and monitoring its hotline. It offers support to pantries, pods, and other folks who want to start and grow the capacity of their mutual aid projects in this region.
Email: Covid19MutualAidEastside@gmail.com
Instagram: @SKC_E_Mutual_Aid
Facebook: South King County & Eastside COVID/Coronavirus Mutual Aid Group
CashApp: $MutualAidSKCE
Patreon: Mutual Aid SKC&E Covid19
Paypal: Covid19MutualAidEastside@gmail.com
Venmo: @MutualAidSKCE
Most in demand: New, unopened laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap, and spray cleaners for bathrooms; toilet paper, paper towels, body soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Any shelf-stable pantry good (canned with pull-top lid preferred), bottled drinks, individually wrapped bars, instant noodles. Cash donation, with preference to small monthly donations via Patreon, as it sends out a newsletter with requests to Patreon members. You can also donate through its Venmo, CashApp, or Paypal, or see its Instagram for item requests.
To volunteer: It is looking for volunteers who can drive families on the Eastside to Costco and take them grocery shopping. You will be compensated for the groceries. To volunteer, fill out its volunteer form or fill out this form to join a Mutual Aid Pod and share resources, or this form to join its upcoming series for Mutual Aid Survive Support Pods. You can also email to get involved; it has pods that need support making deliveries and fundraising each month!
BIPOC Food Sovereignty Pantry
The BIPOC Food Sovereignty Pantry is a collaborative effort by South King County and Eastside Covid19 Mutual Aid, Uprooted & Rising Seattle, and Queer The Land. These groups are “organizing community pantries in South King County. Our long term goal is to achieve food sovereignty. We will be buying products directly from local BIPOC farmers, as well as supplementing with what we aren’t able to buy from local farmers. Your monthly support ensures we can continue our community pantries and purchase produce directly from BIPOC farmers.” It is based out of Burien.
Patreon: Covid19 Mutual Aid Pantries
Venmo: @KCMutualAidPantries
Most in demand: Monetary donations.
To donate: Directly Venmo the group or use its Patreon.
Auburn Mutual Aid
Auburn Mutual Aid is a collective of neighbors who provide mutual aid support for BIPOC, undocumented, queer and trans, and low-income folks in Auburn. It runs weekly food pantry events, shares resources, and bills support for community members. Find more information, including dates and times, on its Instagram.
Most in demand: Financial donations for food pantry, bilingual children’s books, box fans, air vent filters, and DIY air purifiers.
To donate: Arrange for donations through Instagram contact or email.
To volunteer: Fill out its volunteer form to help organize distribution.
WashMasks is a mutual aid group specifically aimed at Washington farmworkers, and is created by artists and art educators in Seattle. As summer comes up, it will be doing heat stress prevention, advocacy, and civil rights for farmworkers. It has regular supply drives, and you can sign up as a volunteer to help collect and drive supplies to Yakima.
Editors’ Note: This article was updated on 06/08/2023 to correct Beacon Hill Mutual Aid’s CashApp handle.
Amanda Ong (she/her) is a Chinese American writer from California. She is currently a master’s candidate at the University of Washington Museology program and graduated from Columbia University in 2020 with degrees in creative writing and ethnicity and race studies.
📸 Featured Image: “The Eggrolls” are a group of volunteers working out of ChuMinh Tofu Deli who distribute free vegan meals and supplies every Sunday in the CID. (Photo: Yangbin Wu)
Your Support Matters More Than Ever This Giving Tuesday
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As we celebrate Giving Tuesday, a day that underscores the power of generosity and community spirit, we at the South Seattle Emerald are reminded of how vital your support is. Our work is fueled by Rainmakers — dedicated supporters who offer recurring gifts of any amount. With the strength of around 1,000 Rainmakers, we proudly stand as a community-driven, BIPOC-led local media outlet.
Imagine the impact if just half of our readers contributed $6 a month. Even small contributions can make a huge difference, helping us to continue our mission of providing free and accessible journalism without constant fundraising.
This Giving Tuesday, we invite you to join our community of Rainmakers. Your support not only sustains our work but also empowers us to bring important stories to the forefront. Please consider a Giving Tuesday donation or become a Rainmaker with a recurring contribution today and be a part of a movement that values and uplifts diverse voices.
NEW YORK (AP) — Dominican infielder Kendry Martinez was among 17 additional players agreeing to seven-figure bonuses, a $2.5 million deal with the Seattle Mariners.
Thirty-two players have agreed to bonuses of $1 million or more through two days of the international signing period, which opened Wednesday and runs until Dec. 15.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, hoping to sign Roki Sasaki, were among five teams that have not finalized any contracts and kept open their entire signing bonus pool allotment, joined by Kansas City, the New York Yankees and Colorado. The San Diego Padres, also wooing the Japanese pitcher, struck one deal for $10,000, the highest amount that does not count against a team’s bonus pool.
Sasaki is considered an international amateur by Major League Baseball because he is under 25 and has not played six seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball. Under the MLB-NPB posting agreement, he has until Jan. 23 to finalize an MLB deal.
Agreements included Dominican shortstop Wilfri De La Cruz and the Chicago Cubs ($2.3 million), Venezuelan outfielder Yorger Bautista and Seattle ($2.1 million), Dominican outfielder Kevin Alvarez and Houston ($2 million), Venezuelan shortstop Liberts Aponte and Cincinnati ($1.9 million), Dominican right-hander Raudy Reyes and Atlanta ($1,797,500), Venezuelan infielder Eliomar Garces and Tampa Bay ($1.6 million), Dominican infielder Juan Cabada and the Cubs ($1.5 million), Bahamian shortstop Ayden Johnson and the Athletics ($1.5 million), Dominican shortstop Dorian Soto and Boston ($1.4 million), Dominican outfielder Royelny Strop and St. Louis ($1.4 million), Dominican outfielder Kenny Fenelon and Milwaukee ($1.3 million), Venezuelan infielder Yulian Barreto and San Francisco ($1,118,700), Dominican shortstop Juan Tomas and the Cubs ($1.1 million) and Dominican outfielder Elorky Rodriguez and Texas (1,097,500
Players born from Sept. 1, 2007, through Aug. 31, 2008, are eligible to sign during this year’s period, which ends Dec. 15. Teams began the week with signing bonus pools ranging from about $5.1 million to $7.6 million.
With the end of the regular season and the arrival of the offseason for the Seattle Seahawks, all eyes have turned to the future to discuss what to expect when the 2025 season arrives, and how the Hawks will navigate the offseason.
One of the first pieces of business for the Seahawks, as noted on Field Gulls Wednesday, is to address the salary cap and come into compliance for the new league year in mid March. With that in mind, the discussion invariably turned to which players the teams could opt to move on from in the coming weeks, and a variation of a common theme was immediately posted into the comments.
Without reworking any deals (or trades), simply cutting Lockett, DreMont Jones, Noah Fant, Jenkins, and Roy Rob-Harris would clear up nearly $50M in cap space.
There has been no shortage of such proposals regarding how to address the salary cap issues the Hawks face in 2025, and these names are obviously the easiest path to cap compliance, which is why they are so often noted in the comments or on social media. Add in proposals to trade or restructure DK Metcalf or Geno Smith, and the discussion is one that has already been had multiple times.
However, before jumping in to discuss 2025, this is a step back to look at the 2024 offseason and then look at the proposed changes through a different lens and one specific question. So, turning the page back to the 2024 offseason, here is a list of the players whose contracts John Schneider in order to make the cap work in 2024:
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Geno Smith: $9.6M roster bonus converted to signing bonus, pushing $4.8M into 2025
DK Metcalf: $11.875M of base salary converted to signing bonus, pushing $9.5M into 2025-2028
Tyler Lockett: $8M signing bonus, pushing $4M into 2025
Dre’Mont Jones: $9.875M converted to signing bonus, pushing $7.4M into 2025-2027
Noah Fant: $9M signing bonus, pushing $4.5M into 2025
Rayshawn Jenkins: $5M signing bonus, pushing $2.5M into 2025
In addition, during the season the Hawks then traded for:
Roy Robertson-Harris: 2026 6th round pick
Ernest Jones: 2025 4th round pick
The loss of a pair of Day 3 picks is not entirely irrelevant because Day 3 picks have the opportunity to turn into something, but the reality is most Day 3 picks never amount to anything in the NFL so trading a pair of them for 855 snaps over half a season is not a horrible use of draft capital. Simply for comparison purposes, Rashaad Penny played just 792 snaps for the Seahawks during his five seasons in Seattle after being selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Or, more recently 2022 second round pick Dee Eskridge logged 444 offensive and special teams snaps for the Seahawks during his three seasons with the team.
Getting back to the discussion at hand, though, the reality is that the majority of players on the list of those that many fans are ready to release in order to come into cap compliance are the exact same players the team either signed or restructured last year.
That, of course, raises the question about what has changed over the course of the year?
If a player was seen as part of the solution in 2024 to the point that John Schneider was willing to borrow against the future in order to keep that particular puzzle piece on the roster, then have things truly changed so much in the last few months that that player is now a part of the problem? Is a player who was just acquired for draft capital in October already no longer a part of future plans?
Things have certainly changed over the course of the past year, but if almost all of the players signed or restructured by the front office in the spring of 2024 are no longer viewed as part of the solution for 2025, where is the disconnect? Was the 2024 offseason even that much worse upon review? Or is this simply a new era in salary cap management for the Seahawks with former New Orleans Saints cap specialist Joey Laine on staff where cap space is fungible and Seattle is now the Big Easy Northwest?
There are certainly more questions that can be asked, but the reality is that until the team shows the direction it will take in the second season under head coach Mike Macdonald it will all be guesswork because the foundation of expectations that exists was set by the previous regime, and it’s a new era.
Pet sitter, family of slain dog walker advocate for neighborhood security
A Seattle pet sitter injured in a hit-and-run says she knew Ruth Dalton, the beloved dogwalker who was killed in a carjacking last August. She’s calling for more security cameras in neighborhoods.
SEATTLE – A hit-and-run driver is still on the loose after seriously injuring a pet sitter on Christmas Day while she was out walking her cat near Seward Park in Seattle.
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The crash came on the heels of the death of another dog walker this summer, Ruth Dalton, who died alongside her dog Prince, after Seattle Police say she was carjacked and run over by Jahmed Haynes.
“I have a lot of fractures that have to heal before I can learn to walk again,” said Karen Miely, still recovering from a hit-and-run from a care facility in Seattle.
Miely was just transferred to a long-term care facility recently after spending several days in the hospital.
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“The biggest milestone would probably be getting the bar out of my pelvis,” said Miely.
She was hit at an intersection near her home while walking her cat Max, also known as Maximus Rex. He escaped unharmed and ran home.
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Local perspective:
Miely also knew Ruth Dalton, another local dogwalker and pet caretaker, who was killed last August.
“Ruth used to walk five at a time,” said Miely.
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Dalton died after Jahmed Haynes allegedly carjacked her and ran her over as she was caring for several dogs.
“It’s heartbreaking what happened to that family,” said Miely.
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“When I heard the story she was hit on Christmas Day, I was like ‘What the heck?’ It’s like open season on dog walkers in Seattle,” said Melanie Roberts, Ruth Dalton’s granddaughter.
Years before the homicide, Dalton was also injured by a random driver, according to her granddaughter.
“She was starting into the crosswalk, and had seen a car a couple blocks away and she thought that they would have seen her in the crosswalk and it was an elderly woman, and she did not see grandma and she hit her in the crosswalk,” said Roberts.
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Roberts says Dalton suffered knee injuries.
“My grandma was fortunate that the woman that hit her in 2009, she stopped and it was an honest to God accident, to hear that Karen was hit and left was disheartening,” said Roberts.
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Miely wishes more security cameras were rolling where she was hit. Roberts believes Dalton would have advocated for that.
“Almost like neighborhood watch cameras. When she saw cameras around, she felt safer,” said Roberts.
Meantime, an online fundraiser is raising money for Miely’s recovery. She hopes to be home in April.
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“I’m thinking, well, that’s around my birthday, I’d like to go home and see my cat. He’s patiently, he’s just being such a good boy,” said Miely.
She says investigators told her a car part was found in the area after the crash. However, it’s unclear if it’s related. FOX 13 reached out to Seattle Police for any updates. We are waiting to hear back.
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Miely is continuing to ask anyone with security camera footage from around 7 p.m. on December 25 in the area of South Orcas Street and 51st or 52nd Avenue South to check their cameras and share footage with police if they haven’t done so already.
The Source: Information in this story is from Karen Miely, Melanie Roberts and Seattle Police.
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