MUTUAL AID – IS IT THE ESSENCE OF NONVIOLENCE?

SILENCE

One of the things I love about where I live in Morro Bay, California is that it is a quiet neighborhood. It is not a busy street, nor are there small children living nearby, and except for the occasional buzzing of saw when my neighbor works on a woodworking project, there is silence. Quiet enough for me to hear my thoughts.

I remember life in the noisy city long ago. At times you couldn’t hear yourself think. So, people stopped thinking. They hurried here and there, heads down, now into cellphones, then just down, then reaching a destination, going inside, or down into the subway – listening to the clack-clack of the trains – always moving, always noisy. The only time we stopped was when we settled our bodies in bed and even then, we were assaulted by the noise of traffic in the street below.

Silence affords us time to think. And this brings up deep things.

I thought about silence the other day when delivering collected warm clothing for the homeless to the organization 805 Street Outreach put me in the company of some of our homeless community. It’s odd to call it a “community” because they are not located in any specific place but spend their nights wandering from place to place to avoid being picked up by police for violating the new ordinance.

“It’s not a law,” the woman who accepted the three box loads and two bags of warm socks, hats, scarves, sweaters, jeans and more said to me, “it’s a city ordinance.” You cannot stop, lie down, and sleep in public places from 10 PM to 6 AM. You cannot pitch your tent – you cannot park your car by the side of the road or in store parking lots – you must keep moving.

The homeless do this. Quietly. They observe silence.

I wonder about their thoughts.

TACKLING HOMELESSNESS

We have always had homeless, even here in this naturally beautiful vacation destination. During the 1970s it was more transient with single and small groups of hippies traveling through on their way up scenic Highway 1 that runs along the edge of the continent, depositing these travelers to an area known as Big Sur. Some of these wanderers stayed in town. In current years refugees from wars, broken homes, prisons, jails and shuttered mental health asylums settled in the bushes and rushes by the edges of creeks and culverts. This wasn’t just happening here – it was everywhere. Here, of course, the welcome mat was not out.

Residents complained. Police responded. The city placed the problem on the council agenda. What is the solution?

We still don’t know. But those of us who didn’t complain and instead gathered to figure out some solutions began a series of actions we now recognize as mutual aid.

We decided that everyone regardless of their situation deserves food. So, we prepared a meal and took it to a picnic area in a small obscure city park near the creek where many homeless had their bedrolls and tents. This was done one day a week, and volunteers were sought to prepare meals. Eventually the city allowed these meals to be served in the old Veteran’s Hall that is located on a quiet side street. The idea grew and church and civic groups joined preparing a different meal for every Monday night. Slowly, the homeless arrived. Some began to help by setting up tables and chairs. Others helped by handing out packaged meals for those who wanted to bring their meal with them. After a while, if any disturbance occurred, some of the homeless stepped up and evicted the person causing a problem. Senior residents began to attend. People who lived alone and struggled on fixed incomes. The meals were open to everyone in the town but most who came had needs.

Today the Monday evening meals feed upward of 100-200 people every time, no questions asked. County counselors are on hand for anyone who may be looking for help. A resource list was put together listing organizations and agencies that could aid with housing, medical, employment, legal, and more.

AND IT GREW

More organizations formed to handle different problems – bags of food to families and single living seniors delivered each week, free medical clinics set up in area church halls, food for children on the free school lunch program on weekends when school is not is session, rides for those who have no transportation. Legal advice for immigrants, money for utilities or rent – all these actions performed by volunteers.

This mutual aid network has spread to other towns throughout the county. It has helped keep violence in check, reduced shoplifting and burglaries, decreased illegal drug use, and more.

The concept follows a pay it forward type of action wherein a person receiving aid then returns aid back. Pay it forward also works with a person receiving aid offering some other type of help to anyone who might need it. Local author Catherine Ryan Hyde wrote a book entitled Pay It Forward that was published in 1999 and made into a movie. It was a concept that this population understood.

DONATION DAY

The day we delivered the boxes of warm clothing for the homeless to 805 Street Outreach dawned with rain pouring down. The forecast said rain would stop by noon. The project was something I had suggested to my Rotary club and for weeks we collected donated clothing. Jessica, our president, and I drove over to the county library where 805 Street Outreach had their trailer set up. The trailer contains a shower, and the library allows this group to hook up to their water source. Anyone needing a hot shower can find one here every Monday at noon. Tables are set up outside the trailer and trays of food are available as well as piles of clothes. People were busy rifling through the boxes and were eager to look into what we brought.

I wore a brightly colored crocheted warm hat as the day was cool and windy although for the first time in a week the sun was out. I spoke with the coordinator and Jessica, who had brought Max, her Weiner dog was going around letting people pet him. People ate the supplied burritos and spent time talking with each other as they waited for their turn for a hot shower. I learned that this organization has it in the works to have the shower trailer available in more communities. A church in the larger town east of Morro Bay, also allows the hot showers. One of our city council guys often offers to come and cut hair or give a shave. Plans are for this organization to have a washing machine available for the homeless to be able to wash their things for free. 805 Street Outreach is a nonprofit and exists financially on grants and donations. In my chat with the woman accepting our donation, I learned that she had at one time been living in her car.

An elderly homeless guy approached me. He had three knit hats in his hand – ones that were in our donation box. He smiled a toothless smile at me and pointed to the hat on my head. “Keeps my head warm,” I said. He held up the hats in his hand and said, “My mother used to make these. Sold them too. Made a bit of a living that way,” and he smiled. I told him my mom had made hats too. “I think we might be going back to doing things like that,” he said.

That has me thinking, of course. All that is needed is a donation of yarn and someone to show them how to crochet. Men can crochet too. Maybe a little cottage industry.

I am a recipient of mutual aid myself receiving bags of food weekly, one from the area Food Bank, and the other from another amazing nonprofit called The Kindness Coalition. I pay it forward by doing projects to advance peace and nonviolence in my community in any way I can. For me, this also involves sharing much of the produce that comes in those bags of food with four other, senior single people living in a mobile home park. Whatever is not taken by all of us is placed out on tables in the mobile home community room. The food never sits there for long.

The need is mighty.

GRADITUDE AND THANKFULNESS

Our mutual aid began with food, but soon enlarged into finding ways to solve the other critical issues such as housing, employment, legal status, etc. Much of this work occurred with volunteers pulling together doing research into all the available resources and then compiling a list and walking around town handing it to anyone who would take it. Soon there were two locations where people could come to obtain aid and fundraising events were put together to keep these locations open and staffed. Much work occurred and still does with city councils and county officials to find ways to satisfy the needs yet assure that residents’ concerns are heeded. None of the work is easy.

The principles of nonviolence played a huge role in the formation and growth of mutual aid in these communities. I held many nonviolence programs to advance the ideas of living nonviolence that requires developing compassion and understanding and willingness to stand up and take action when needed, but always in the spirit of love.

We celebrate Thanksgiving in this country, but do we truly understand the meaning of that word? It is not just a day to eat turkey and stuffing. The day commemorates a group of Pilgrims who came together for a shared meal after a successful harvest of their first year in a new world. Some stories tell us that native people helped these newcomers so they could have a good harvest. It is also said that both groups sat together at table sharing the bounty.

Well, maybe.

If it is true, I see it as the first occasion of mutual aid in the Americas and an example of true nonviolence.

Written and published 11/20/25 by Ruth Ann Angus on Substack at ruthannangus.substack.com