{"id":13034,"date":"2023-05-21T20:56:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T01:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/?page_id=13034"},"modified":"2023-05-21T20:56:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T01:56:47","slug":"mema-metro-east-mutual-aid","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/mema-metro-east-mutual-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"MEMA Metro East Mutual Aid"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEMA had its first meeting in November of 2021 at the Collinsville Memorial Library Center with 10 people. It now has a core group of committed network members. They meet monthly for brunch and to discuss MEMA business. \u201cAt some point early in the pandemic, I posted online that we needed a mutual aid group in the Metro East,\u201d Autenrieth said. \u201cI got a lot of very positive responses.

\u201cInitially I was trying to find other people to take the ball and run with it because I wanted it to be led by people from minority communities and lower-income communities. Eventually I decided that I just needed to start it.\u201d

Partnerships<\/strong>
Autenrieth\u2019s friend, Sarah Blan, was among those who were instrumental in the formation of the group. \u201cShe\u2019s the main administrator for our Facebook group or when I need computer work done,\u201d Autenrieth said. \u201cWe specifically avoid titles because mutual aid is very non-hierarchical. Decisions are made by consent of the group and I try not to do anything major without running it by the group.\u201d

A few months ago, MEMA formally connected with The Family Treehouse, a\u00a0nonprofit based in Granite City that directs the Twigs program (addressing childhood hunger). MEMA is retaining its autonomy and distinctive character but connecting with a nonprofit allows access to some useful resources like the St. Louis Diaper Bank and the St. Louis Alliance for Period Supplies.

\u201cLisa Guilliams and I have been pastoring together for about a year and she is director of the Twigs program,\u201d said Autenrieth, who also works two days a week at Partners for Pets and officiates funerals for Irwin Chapel.

\u201cThe partnership with The Family Treehouse allows us to apply for grants and gives us liability insurance when we do things like a critical home repair project we did recently. We can also access Twigs\u2019 resources all the time, especially if we\u2019re helping a family that needs food.\u201d Mutual aid can take many forms in practice, but at its root it is an all-volunteer sharing of skills and resources for the sake of moving toward a world in which everyone\u2019s needs are met.
Also, mutual aid doesn\u2019t require a large infrastructure or huge budget to make a difference.\u00a0Even a few people committed to collective care can begin to meet needs.

\u201cOur first project was in Granite City to help some friends who were living in a home that had some moisture damage in one of the rooms with exposed asbestos, and they were on a limited income,\u201d Autenrieth said.
\u201cThe first thing we did was bring in a crew of people to get the excess items out of the house. Then we fundraised to hire a certified asbestos removal company. That was in January of 2022, which was two months after our first meeting.\u201d

Expanding<\/strong>
Currently, MEMA has more than 400 followers on its Facebook page and more than 100 followers on its private Facebook group. According to Autenrieth, about 30 people are active members of the organization. \u201cWe get financial donations from various places,\u201d said Autenrieth, who wants MEMA to serve all of Madison and St. Clair counties. \u201cWe just finished a project for a woman in Belleville who uses a wheelchair, and she had holes in her floor in a few places. Also, her wheelchair ramp outside needed to be repaired.

\u201cInitially I thought we could do the ramp, but the inside job would be above our abilities. But we got flooring donated and had a contractor who volunteered to help us. We also had money donated and we got it done.\u201d

The values of Metro East Mutual Aid are:<\/strong>
Solidarity, Not Charity
Mutual Care, Mutual Accountability
Relationships Built on Trust
Communal Support, Not Transactional
Sharing Resources, rather than Hoarding
Everyone Has Gifts to Offer in Community; Everyone Has Needs that Can Be Met in Community
Everyone Deserves to Have Their Needs Met
Collaboration, Even in Times of Conflict
Horizontal Decision Making
Investment in People, not Systems

A partial list of MEMA projects since November 2021 includes:
Raising the necessary funds and contracting with an asbestos removal company to have exposed asbestos removed from a residence
Doing yard work to help a household avoid municipal fines
Providing gas cards and children\u2019s clothing to a family in need
Delivering fans and an AC unit to two households without adequate cooling
Donating and delivering nine box fans to families affected by flooding in East St. Louis. Donating toward legal fees and utility expenses for community members in need.

Donating and delivering drywall to help a single mother with home repairs
Conducting an ongoing baby supply drive which receives and fills requests for families in the Metro East (107 families so far), including providing diapers from the St. Louis Diaper Bank.

Providing school clothes to a family on request
Helping a single mom with moving and yard work after a work-related injury
Donating toward car repair for a community member
Helping women escaping domestic violence with resources and referral
Helping two families with resources after housefires
Critical home repair for a disabled community member – repairing her wheelchair ramp and replacing floors in her home
Helping to distribute menstrual kits from the St. Louis Alliance for period supplies.

Working in partnership with Twigs to create resource closets for the social workers in Granite City Middle School and High School
\u201cWe\u2019re conditioned to thinking you have to either go through a lot of hoops with a nonprofit or wait for a government program, but there are a lot of things that people can take care of just by helping each other,\u201d Autenrieth said.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13034","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13035,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13034\/revisions\/13035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}