What is Mutual Aid?

  • Mutual aid is solidarity, not charity.
  • Mutual aid is what makes communities strong and resilient during life's ups and downs
  • Mutual aid is taking care of your community so that your community can take care of you when you need it
  • Mutual aid is the power and the sense of belonging we feel when we:
    • Have a neighborhood cookout and make some new friends
    • Take turns with other parents to monitor the school bus stop
    • Play pick-up games at the court with the person down the block
    • Work together with our neighbors to fill potholes when the state doesn't
    • Share a cup of sugar or a couple eggs with a neighbor and get some cookies later
    • Harvest all the tomatoes from the community garden and drop off bags to all your neighbors, even the ones who didn't help with the garden

Who is Lansing Area Mutual Aid?

Lansing Area Mutual Aid started, as many mutual aid groups did, in response to the year 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. During our early months, we provided bulk food, mask, water, and even firewood distribution to help meet the needs of our community. As time passed and things settled down, we ended our bulk distribution activities and began referring folks to Greater Lansing Food Bank.

We are a community of neighbors in Greater Lansing whose mission is to make sure all of our Lansing neighbors have their needs met. Rather than replicate services and resources that already exist in Lansing, we are focused on networking neighbors together to help each other, and connecting them with resources in Lansing when they need more than their communities can bear.

In times of crisis, LAMA pays close attention to what we hear from our communities. Working together, we can identify immediate needs that must be met and prepare for the near-future needs that are on their way.

Where do you fit in?

If you are in the Lansing area, you are our Neighbor. We're building ways to connect you and your neighbors together, even those on the other side of town, to make it easier to ask for what you need and share what you have.