SAN ANTONIO — A group of mutual aid organizations are forming a larger network to serve the community even quicker in light of disaster events like Winter Storm Uri.
Volunteers with Yanawana Herbolarios had extra donations to sort through after the winter storm swept through San Antonio.
“It partly began as a call-out and then ended up as a response,” said Maria C Turvin, founder of Yanawana Herbelarios.
She said San Antonians turned to mutual aid groups like hers both for help, and even to help during the crisis.
“When the storm happened and it just, like, went into the great winter event of 2021, then we just had people like, 'Let us send you stuff, I'm local, I can drop stuff off on the porch,'" she said.
Turvin described mutual aid as providing community members assistance, without expecting anything in return.
“You're essentially being a good neighbor,” she said. “Free pop-up libraries, free pantries, free community pantries are great examples of this.”
13-year-old Summer Vinton, who runs @FreeLittlePantrySA with her family, said she didn’t realize what they were doing constituted mutual aid.
“I thought going up to someone and talking to them face to face was mutual aid stuff,” she said.
She and Turvin were both asked to join a Zoom meeting with several other community organizations, with the goal of setting up a larger mutual aid network.
“We're just like a little Instagram account with 1,000 followers,” Vinton said. “I'm just like, 'Whoa, how did I even get into this spot?' I was so thrilled when that meeting got called, it was like, 'Yes, now we can accomplish so much more together.'"
The group discussed forming a larger network. The working title is Yanawana Mutual Aid Collective. But don’t let the name fool you; it is not an extension of Yanawana Herbelarios.
The name actually comes from the name the indigenous people had for the San Antonio river before the Spanish river.
“Any reference to a Yanawana actually is in reference to the river,” Turvin said.
Turvin said the new network will be operated collectively with volunteers from member organizations working as dispatchers who will determine which organization is best suited to answer each call. There is a sign-up sheet for new volunteers on posted to Yanawana Herbelarios's Facebook page.
“Let's stop reinventing the wheel. Let's, you know, make the wheel larger and gather together and work collectively,” she said.
Turvin said the communication this network will allow will mean a more effective response to the next disaster.
“Instead of it taking days for them to get help, we'll be able to get them help right then and there," she said.