Mutual Aid & Herbal Care 4 At Risk Communities
Donation protected
WHO WE ARE: The LA Herbalist Collective formed on the indigenous lands of the Tongva, Chumash, Fernandeño Tataviam Nations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our mutual aid project is operating within in the context of an ongoing public health crisis and the escalating crisis of state violence enacted through the law enforcement genocide of Black people. The State has never had our backs, will never have our backs. Our work is in response to the disproportionate burden being placed on individuals to survive. We provide herbal support to our most vulnerated* community members: frontline activists and organizers, unsheltered folks, and healthcare workers. We work in service of indigenous sovereignty + black liberation. We, as the herbalists behind the LAHC, transmute our outrage + grief into community care.
WE ARE A CATALYST OF THESE TRUTHS: We know that the current systems we are taught to depend on for safety and care have been failing many of us for a long time. Pandemic pressure has deepened the cracks of inequality and exposed the many intersections at which the State has not only failed to serve + protect us, but directly stands in the way of our health, safety, and self-determination. Our response as community medicine makers is to focus on prevention, to help build strong(er) immune systems, regulate nervous systems, open source information about accessible herbs and treatment, and continue the work of healing the land from centuries of settler-colonial violence. We are here to provide our communities with tools for resilience as we enter a period of great upheaval and revolution.
"We Keep Each Other Safe" is our guiding principle in these times.
WHO WE SERVE: During the last couple of months, we have been able to distribute over 1500 bottles of medicine, 10 pounds of tea, 100 salt steam blends, 100 salt gargles-- all directly to vulnerated* people. As well as smaller scale kits + medicine donated to various organizations, healthcare workers, in support of co-conspirators in other mutual aid affinity groups, to the frontlines of BLM protests, etc. We are committed to diversifying our efforts + continuing to adapt to the most urgent needs of our communities and co-creating the future we want to live in while surviving the present.
WHERE THE FUNDS GO: 100% of all proceeds go directly to purchasing materials for medicine making and distribution: bottles, caps, herb material, vinegar, honey, beeswax, oil, alcohol (for hand sanitizer), and the waterproof bags we use. We hope that most things in our kits can serve multiple purposes medicinally and also functionally that the bags, bottles, and other materials can continue to be used and recycled by the communities they are distributed in. We use a best practices protocol for medicine making which includes wiping down counters, sanitizing work spaces, wearing masks and gloves-- all in accordance with the latest research.
WHERE YOU COME IN: Collectively as herbalists, healers, and medicine makers our reserves of knowledge are quite deep and now is a time when we call upon our community to help us expand our support. We are donating our time, energy, and resources and now ask for our community to support our efforts by financially supporting the purchasing of additional materials for kits. If you would like to support our collective in other ways (donating specific herbs, support with distribution and transportation, make medicine for us, etc.) please email us: [email redacted].
* We use the term “vulnerated” to describe the ways in which communities have been made vulnerable through systems of power and oppression.
WE ARE A CATALYST OF THESE TRUTHS: We know that the current systems we are taught to depend on for safety and care have been failing many of us for a long time. Pandemic pressure has deepened the cracks of inequality and exposed the many intersections at which the State has not only failed to serve + protect us, but directly stands in the way of our health, safety, and self-determination. Our response as community medicine makers is to focus on prevention, to help build strong(er) immune systems, regulate nervous systems, open source information about accessible herbs and treatment, and continue the work of healing the land from centuries of settler-colonial violence. We are here to provide our communities with tools for resilience as we enter a period of great upheaval and revolution.
"We Keep Each Other Safe" is our guiding principle in these times.
WHO WE SERVE: During the last couple of months, we have been able to distribute over 1500 bottles of medicine, 10 pounds of tea, 100 salt steam blends, 100 salt gargles-- all directly to vulnerated* people. As well as smaller scale kits + medicine donated to various organizations, healthcare workers, in support of co-conspirators in other mutual aid affinity groups, to the frontlines of BLM protests, etc. We are committed to diversifying our efforts + continuing to adapt to the most urgent needs of our communities and co-creating the future we want to live in while surviving the present.
WHERE THE FUNDS GO: 100% of all proceeds go directly to purchasing materials for medicine making and distribution: bottles, caps, herb material, vinegar, honey, beeswax, oil, alcohol (for hand sanitizer), and the waterproof bags we use. We hope that most things in our kits can serve multiple purposes medicinally and also functionally that the bags, bottles, and other materials can continue to be used and recycled by the communities they are distributed in. We use a best practices protocol for medicine making which includes wiping down counters, sanitizing work spaces, wearing masks and gloves-- all in accordance with the latest research.
WHERE YOU COME IN: Collectively as herbalists, healers, and medicine makers our reserves of knowledge are quite deep and now is a time when we call upon our community to help us expand our support. We are donating our time, energy, and resources and now ask for our community to support our efforts by financially supporting the purchasing of additional materials for kits. If you would like to support our collective in other ways (donating specific herbs, support with distribution and transportation, make medicine for us, etc.) please email us: [email redacted].
* We use the term “vulnerated” to describe the ways in which communities have been made vulnerable through systems of power and oppression.
Organizer
Sofia Rower
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA