South End Guides

Jan 24, 2024

by Amanda Ong

Last Updated on June 7, 2023, 12:26 pm.

Need help with food, clothing, or other essentials, or want to give directly to our South End neighbors? South Seattle has a number of wonderful mutual aid groups that help sustain and support our communities. Mutual aid is a practice of direct community and resource sharing to help meet each other's needs — typically without ties to nonprofits or other organizations. Instead of charity, mutual aid operates in solidarity, recognizing that our health and well-being are bound up in collective care.

Sounds great, but how do you find these mutual aid groups?

Most groups have an Instagram or Facebook account, but it's hard to know where to look if you don't know what you’re searching for. The goal of this guide is to make that a little easier. If you’re looking for anything, from clothes to food to toiletries, diapers, and baby formula, you can find it through these groups. Looking for ways to help? You can find that here too!

Listed below are some of the South End's mutual aid groups, how to contact them, and what they most need help with right now. For information about starting your own mutual aid group, check out this Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit.

Know of a group that should be on our list? Send us a tip at [email protected].

This guide will be updated periodically, so check back for current info.

New this month: Temperatures are rising and wildfire season is already here. Low-income and unhoused communities typically need help with summer necessities, like box fans and sunscreen. Before donating, make sure to ask what items are most needed.

Updated to include: Super Familia King County, Seattle Food Not Bombs, From the Heart PNW, Homies Helping Homies, Shuttsie Love, and WashMasks.

A post shared by Super Familia (@superfamilia_kc)

The first and only grassroots group in the United States led by unaccompanied and undocumented youth organizers, Super Familia King County is a mutual aid group organized to resist traditional social services that can endanger unaccompanied and undocumented youth. It aims to create community and support immigrant youth.

A post shared by Seattle Community Fridge (@seattlecommunityfridge)

Seattle Community Fridge is a mutual aid group based in fridges across Seattle stocked with food and other basic items for people to take as they need. Find all of its locations and food donation safety guidelines on its website. Its fridges are stocked with free food and non-perishable items.

A post shared by A Will and A Way Mutual Aid (@awillandawaysea)

A Will & A Way is a non-hierarchical mutual aid collective that has outreach teams distributing in Capitol Hill every Wednesday at 7 p.m. The organization values being a true mutual aid collective rather than a charity, and as such, tries to connect with individuals in the neighborhood about specific needs rather than bulk supply. Right now, given the increase in sweeps, it is working on providing supplies like sleeping bags and tents.

A post shared by Seattle Food Not Bombs (@seattlefoodnotbombs)

Food Not Bombs is a global movement about sharing free food. While branches operate individually, each is dedicated to mutual aid over charity; uses horizontal decision making; is opposed to all forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.; is dedicated to nonviolence and promotion of veganism and vegetarianism; and is founded on the belief that food is a human right, not a privilege. It serves two weekly hot meals every Saturday and Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in Occidental Square in Pioneer Square, under the glass shelter.

ChuMinh Tofu has been hosting free hot, vegan meals and distributing survival supplies each Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., at 1043 S. Jackson St. in Little Saigon. Organizers known as "The Eggrolls" also organize free clothes, bags, toiletries, snacks, drinks, masks, and hand sanitizer along with the Sunday meal each week.

The Seattle Chinatown-International District Mutual Aid (CID MA) team provides direct aid using a framework of anti-racism, anti-oppression, and cultural lens to bridge language, medical, and survival needs to residents living unsheltered in the CID. It has been providing rapid response since 2020 to residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, city sweeps, heat waves, smoke, and emergency response.

A post shared by The Long Haul (@the_long_haul_kitchen)

Long Haul Kitchen provides mutual aid for unsheltered and homeless folks in Georgetown and SODO. Volunteers are needed each Sunday to cook and deliver food.

This group provides supplies to homeless neighbors, including water in the summer, warming kits and propane for cooking in the winter, and also posts fundraisers for community members at risk of losing housing or unable to pay bills.

This group includes BIPOC and allying youth in South Seattle who are determined for change and passionate about mutual aid. They also help with Sunday distributions every week at ChuMinh Tofu in the CID, listed above.

For the People (FTP) is a grassroots, community-led, on-the-ground organization centered around community building. Its mission is to dismantle oppressive systems through compassion, companionship, love, and hot meals!

Musang, Chef Melissa Miranda's award-winning restaurant in Beacon Hill, has also been running a community kitchen throughout the pandemic. It works directly with its partners to provide meals to community members in need, and works with groups like the Seattle Southeast Senior Center, Real Change, Wasat, Food Intentions, and more.

Based out of Lake City, From the Heart PNW offers a weekly Thursday sack lunch and supplies from 12 to 3 p.m. at NE 125th St. and 30th Ave. NE, as well as a Pizza Party Saturday and Hot Breakfast Sundays from 12 to 3 p.m. at 1251 33rd Ave. NE. You can drop off supplies at the meals on Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday, or message over social media or email.

Homies Helping Homies distributes food, PPE, first-aid kits, and cold weather essentials in northwest Seattle. Donation needs vary as the weather changes, but cash donations are always accepted over Venmo or CashApp, and you can message the group on Instagram for more donation information.

A post shared by s h u t t s i e❤️l o v e (@shuttsie_love)

The Shuttsie Love Community Pantry, located on NE 38th and 110th St. in the Lake City/Meadowbrook area of Seattle, offers food, hygiene, and resources to neighbors facing food or living insecurity. Open 24/7 and celebrating its 2nd anniversary in June, it builds trust and safety through love and care. By nurturing each other, members hope for a more even playing field where everyone can prosper.

South King County and Eastside Covid19 Mutual Aid (SKC&E) provides grocery and essential item delivery, resource mapping and pod mapping, and survivor support in South King County and the Eastside. Resource mapping and pod mapping are strategies it offers to connect individuals with the resources they need to support each other in the community. It needs support with buying and delivering groceries to families and individuals, administrative tasks and coordination, and monitoring its hotline. It offers support to pantries, pods, and other folks who want to start and grow the capacity of their mutual aid projects in this region.

The BIPOC Food Sovereignty Pantry is a collaborative effort by South King County and Eastside Covid19 Mutual Aid, Uprooted & Rising Seattle, and Queer The Land. These groups are "organizing community pantries in South King County. Our long term goal is to achieve food sovereignty. We will be buying products directly from local BIPOC farmers, as well as supplementing with what we aren't able to buy from local farmers. Your monthly support ensures we can continue our community pantries and purchase produce directly from BIPOC farmers." It is based out of Burien.

Auburn Mutual Aid is a collective of neighbors who provide mutual aid support for BIPOC, undocumented, queer and trans, and low-income folks in Auburn. It runs weekly food pantry events, shares resources, and bills support for community members. Find more information, including dates and times, on its Instagram.

WashMasks is a mutual aid group specifically aimed at Washington farmworkers, and is created by artists and art educators in Seattle. As summer comes up, it will be doing heat stress prevention, advocacy, and civil rights for farmworkers. It has regular supply drives, and you can sign up as a volunteer to help collect and drive supplies to Yakima.

Amanda Ong (she/her) is a Chinese American writer from California. She is currently a master's candidate at the University of Washington Museology program and graduated from Columbia University in 2020 with degrees in creative writing and ethnicity and race studies.

📸 Featured Image: "The Eggrolls" are a group of volunteers working out of ChuMinh Tofu Deli who distribute free vegan meals and supplies every Sunday in the CID. (Photo: Yangbin Wu)