Today is January 13th

I’m borrowing this title format from Joe.

Today was We All We Got SD’s mutual aid grocery distribution day. I signed up to help pack up and take things back to storage. It had been a couple months since I volunteered, so it was good to see them again and be reminded of the impact we can have when we organize. They distributed to 150 people/families today (300 bags of groceries). One of the many things I like about this group is that it’s “solidarity, not charity.” We’re doing our best to be there for each others’ needs and not gatekeeping. The next distribution is January 27th if you’d like to join us or if you need food. Visit weallwegotsd.com/distro for more info.

While unloading stuff with a couple other volunteers, one of them asked how I’d been doing and I decided to be a bit more honest than the perfunctory “alright” or whatever. I’ve not been great, so I said that. They offered to talk sometime if I ever needed a listening ear, which was nice. The three of us ended up talking for at least half an hour after we were done, about all sorts of things. They commiserated and we exchanged numbers so we can keep in touch and get together more often, probably go on some walks. They’ve been getting into foraging, which is new to me and sounds interesting.

It was a rather nice, warm day today, so the sun felt really good. It’s nice that we’re slowly getting more daylight. After the distro, I went to Dark Horse Coffee and got a salted maple coffee and one of their great donuts (green apple cinnamon, it was so good) and read for a little bit.

Tonight I might join the weekly Third Place Covid Cautious Zoom hangout again. They’re another good group of people and there’s a bit of everything: serious talk, education, commiseration, online games, and laughter.