Sacramento social justice activist starts online list for help during coronavirus
After reading news stories about the coronavirus pandemic affects in the United States and Italy, a Sacramento-area social justice activist said he realized he wanted to do something to help those who would experience severe hardship.
Elliott Geneste de Besme, a transgender person living in Arden Arcade, is immunocompromised and has been working from home as a social worker since March 16.
He said he said quickly understood how simple tasks like buying groceries was suddenly a dangerous chore with number of COVID-19 cases increasing. He needed help, but so do a lot of others in marginalized groups, such as people of color, queer people, transgender people, immigrants, those with disabilities and the homeless, he said.
He started the Sacramento Mutual Aid Network, a spreadsheet he’s been sharing on social media for two weeks now that allows people to sign-up for help they need. Those who have signed-up so far include contact information for volunteers who can offer some help.
“What I have been amazed by in watching the Sacramento Mutual Aid Network grow is just how many people are signing up to offer assistance to people who are asking for support on the list,” Geneste de Besme told The Sacramento Bee. “It is quite a beautiful thing to behold, and it is restoring my hope in humanity.”
Some of the requests have included rent money, grocery runs, cleaning supplies and childcare. Even Geneste de Besme has made a request, asking for someone to buys his groceries once a week. He’ll pay for the groceries.
There are also several people who asking for help they need more resources to provided critical support to homeless people. One homeless advocate asked for gauze, bandaids, bars of soap and sandwich bags among a long list of other needed items.
Geneste de Besme has shared links to the help list on his Twitter account and his Instagram account, hoping to reach as many people as possible. As of Friday afternoon, 130 people have made requests or offered help on the list.
And the list isn’t just other residents in his neighborhood. It’s for neighbors throughout the Sacramento region, including residents from Citrus Heights, Antelope, Carmichael, Davis, Elk Grove and Folsom who have asked for help or volunteered to help others.
“The more people who participate in this Mutual Aid network, the more resources can get easily pulled towards those most in need,” Geneste de Besme said. “For that reason, I am really hoping that this link can get shared all around the Sacramento region.”
The spreadsheet is available at https://bit.ly/sac-mututal-aid-sheet.
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 4:10 PM.
