Tampa Mutual Aid: FNB & Bay Area Harm Reduction

As the Covid-19 crisis unfolds, Tampa Food Not Bombs and Bay Area Harm Reduction are working hard to meet growing requests in our community.  With increasing numbers of positive cases of coronavirus in Hillsborough county, service interruptions, restaurant shutdowns, library hour cuts and regular food shares for the homeless have understandably been severely restricted or have become inaccessible altogether.  

Volunteers who do this work year round have had to make difficult decisions to step back to keep themselves and their families safe as they or their families may fall into incredibly vulnerable demographics.  

This gofundme is for people who *have resources to share and are looking for local paths to open up to be able to support the community in good and safer ways during this crisis.  

Working together, TFNB and BAHR have worked incredibly hard to meet every CDC protocol for restricting transmission including handwashing stations, sanitation and hygiene packs, harm reduction kits and the creation of vetted, updated information tailored to people who live outside and people who use substances.  We have increased the number of meals served weekly to 450 meals.
Funds raised will go directly into the personal bank account of volunteers and will be utilized to:

-reproduce these materials
-produce a continuous stream of hygiene and sanitation kits
-provide meals for those who relied on food shares which have had to shut down in lieu of this crisis
-prepare for increased presence at our Tues 8am and Sat 4pm food shares
-increase our medical provisions available for people to address people's needs at this time
-increase our ability to procure immune boosting products for people whom they aren't contraindicated for
-increase our ability to procure harm reduction materials including fentanyl test strips/antibiotic ointments and a variety of other items that Bay Area Harm Reduction has made freely available on a consistent basis to the community (which is life saving work)

All funds raised through this effort will go to these items.  We have also opened up the pathway of an amazon wishlist should you prefer to purchase items we are in need of which will be shipped directly to the home of Tampa volunteers who are organizing these, and other, mutual aid efforts across the community.  
The wishlist can be found here:   
NOTE-  this wishlist is set up through a smile account which sends a portion of every dollar spent to Doctors Without Borders, a global organization working on the front lines of this crisis along with medical personnel and various service industries who keep our ability to purchase food, medicine and other needed supplies available to us as well as domestic workers who are caregiving inside of the homes of vulnerable people across the country and the world at large.  

Important Resources:
Principles of Harm Reduction 

Tampa Mutual Aid google doc 

CDC COVID-19 updates 

Bay Area Harm Reduction on FB 

Tampa FNB on FB ( You can find Tampa FNB's statement  on steps we are taking to limit transmission and provide a safer space for people to access food who are at risk by way of poverty/limited access to health care/limited access to sanitation/ un or undertreated pre-existing conditions/un or undertreated and ongoing incurring trauma and stress)

We realize people's ability to stay safe and follow CDC protocols vary and differ based on a number of factors including socio-economic status, so, in as much as you are able, stay safe and reach out if assistance is needed.  

In solidarity, 
TFNB and Bay Area Harm Reduction crews