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For more than a month now, the Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO) has been working with the Hamilton Student Mobilization Network (HSMN) Erich's Cupboard, and the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI) to deliver food to people with disabilities or who can't afford groceries. We are run predominantly by young people who are students, racialized, or people with disabilities. Our work was shared locally, nationally and internationally, even mentioned in a Washington Post article. Background: We started off as a mutual aid project, with a Facebook group (see in signature line) for people to post when they need some support, and for Hamilton residents to offer that support. But with more than 6,000 residents in the Facebook group, we got worried that requests were being missed. We also wanted to make sure that we were prioritizing racialized and disabled people. So we created a centralized system with a phone number and a request form, translated flyers into Arabic, French, Spanish, Polish, and more, and dropped them in at risk buildings (see docs in signature line). Since then, we have been getting requests for 100 families a week, and have been delivering these kits Mondays Wednesday and Fridays. Because of family sizes, which range normally from 2-8 per household, we estimate that we have now fed close to 500 people. We do this work out of the New Vision United Church on 21 Main Street West.
Right now, we have over 200 volunteers signed up who have been helping with inventory runs, office sanitation, delivery runs, and flyer drops. For more information, please feel free to email or call, and click through the links in our signature below to find our volunteer form, translated explanatory flyers, and more. To refer people to our system and get them food, have them fill out this form or call our phone line at (289) 768-3170. With love and in solidarity, Hamilton Student Mobilization Network (HamStu), Erich's Cupboard, and Disability and Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO)! Links: CareMongering-HamOnt: Hamilton Community Response to COVID19 Phone line: 289 768 3170 General inquiries, calls for support, e-transfer donations, and misc. offers can be sent to care@djno.ca. These are not emergency contact lines. Please give us 3-4 days to respond! Volunteers can sign up here!
Facebook group at CareMongering-HamOnt: Hamilton Community Response to COVID19 Request forms for support: https://linktr.ee/HamOntCare E-transfers can be sent to care@djno.ca Childcare: Fill this out if you need childcare / Fill this out if you can provide childcare! We have created a flyer to deliver around your neighbourhood for offline support. Flyers and their translations (Arabic, Spanish, French, Polish) can be found here.
