Autumn Update: Resource Pamphlets, Winter Aid Campaign + Program Efficiency
Hello and welcome to the Autumn Blog Post! These updates will now be coming quarterly (you’re welcome, chronic email ignorers) due to our escalation and growth on the ground. We’re stretched thin in the best way possible!
The first thing we’d like to share is that our long-planned Peer 2 Peer campaign is finally in the works. The campaign stretches from now through New Year’s, and participants are each responsible for raising $500 (or more!) on their own within that time frame. We’re calling it the Winter Aid Campaign, because funds will go towards helping our communities thrive through the months with less daylight. Here’s an excerpt from the central campaign page elaborating on how winter can be tough on our neighbors:
( Read more or give directly here: https://donorbox.org/sf-nola-winter-aid-campaign )
We’re currently gathering people to participate in SF and Nola, and can never have enough volunteers! If you’d like to join in and raise $500 for us, simply reply to this email and I’ll send you an invite to sign up!
As for what we’ve been up to on the ground, we have a few things to share with you! We’ll start with our crowning achievement: the 2025 Resource Pamphlets for New Orleans! We were originally going to share the first round of pamphlets, but we didn’t distribute very many before deciding to upgrade them in a major way. Below is a draft of the new and improved pamphlets, which will go to print immediately upon the final edit.
outside of the tri-fold
inside of the tri-fold
As you can see, the resources are broken down into our signature categories of wrap-around wellness services: home, health & healing. The phone numbers, websites and addresses listed rarely lead to a single program– they are all chosen specifically because they’ll help community members navigate a field of interest or need. In the “12 Step Recovery, Detox & Rehab” category, for example, the links and phone number lead to a myriad of options for substance-dependency programs. We believe that no two people or families are the same in terms of health and wellness needs, so we tried to make the pamphlets as comprehensive (but not confusing) as possible.
Now we also have a perfect outline to begin putting together the San Francisco pamphlets next. We plan to release & distribute an updated version of the pamphlets in each city every year from here on out. As a reminder, pamphlets will be distributed on the streets (SUS Program), at community events, via our shelter partners and in our other programs as they launch. Should you have connections to community resources in either location that you think might be of interest, feel free to bring them to our attention!
During the research phase of the pamphlets, we discovered some gaps in services that we’d like to help close. Stay tuned to hear about how we’ll tailor our advocacy and ground programs to help address needs like emergency relocations, free/affordable deficiency + gut tests, and accessible functional (root cause) medicine.
Another thing we’ve been working on is the growth of our Shelter and Unhoused Support (SUS) Program in SF. In recent weeks we’ve mainly been working on efficiency, as in maximizing distribution quantities while minimizing costs and environmental impact. To that end, we’ve transitioned from dry meals to stews, soups and nourishing bowls, which are made in one giant pot.
The portions are then scooped into the glass jars we’ve been collecting from neighbors of means, and distributed to our unhoused neighbors right away. This new efficiency allows both for more meals per trip and for the food to still be hot when it’s eaten, which has garnered very gracious feedback from those we serve regularly.
We also use the glass jars for water distribution, filling them up from a cooler I strap into the backseat of my car during meal and narcan deliveries. The water is also available when we’re on neighborhood OD and heavy-usage sweeps so that we can offer it every time we offer narcan. Anyone who’s worked with the unhoused or people who use drugs (PWUD) knows that dehydration is a prevailing and often overlooked issue in both recovery and harm reduction.
For further efficiency, we’ve recently begun petitioning local grocers (both locally owned and chain) to help us make the supply for our pass-outs more seamless and sustainable too. Below is the flyer we’re passing out in the hopes of attaining some consistent produce sponsors:
front of the flyers
back of the flyers
In August, we had our first formal board meeting, with all three current members present. Kira and Leila, while already helpful sounding boards on their own, made an even more formidable pair, providing feedback, validation, and problem solving as we discussed everything we’ve been up to recently and all that we hope to accomplish in the coming months. While Angela has retired from her formal board position, she has started doing a bit of contract work for us again as we prepare to finally throw the first community event, which we’ve had to push time and again due to financial and manpower constraints. We’re so excited that we still have her in our corner as a representative both for the nonprofit and for the needs of her community in New Orleans.
As always, we thank you all for your patience if you’ve read this much, and for your continued support for our work from near and far. If you’d like to engage in other ways, please don’t hesitate to reach out! From the Peer 2 Peer campaign to sharing resources and community connections to buying Mother Angela’s apparel on our website, there are so many ways to get involved. But more than anything, we encourage you to engage first and foremost with your own local community. Find out what your neediest neighbors could use most in their daily lives and try to help connect them to resources. Shop at and donate to Goodwill, give excess food to pantries or folks on the street, or volunteer for a holiday charitable event. Share Whatcha Got in whatever way you see fit!
And of course, if what you need most in this season is to focus on your own home, health and healing, then block out the noise and get to it! Prioritizing our own needs & pursuing our own happiness make the world go ‘round, as we can only truly help others once we’ve helped ourselves.
Happy Autumn and lots of love!
