Rural Spotlight: How North Texas Rural Resilience Weathered the Storm

"Make some soup, listen to your neighbors, and show up everywhere."

Hi (y’)all,

Hope everyone is hanging in there post one year of covid hell! I have my first vaccine shot tomorrow ^_^ and the weather is warming up here in Rhode Island. A couple weeks ago, I visited my parents in rural upstate NY with a friend and we talked about how mutual aid—neighbors helping each other—is just a part of life there. My parents help their Amish neighbors print things for their school and they take the Amish to the doctor. The Amish have done some odd and end jobs for them too. In the case of a giant crises though, to my knowledge, there aren’t mutual aid groups who could quickly and efficiently coordinate relief. Many people would probably rely on their social networks and figure it out, but the most isolated would suffer.

The Texas snow storm, COVID-19, and devastating wildfires have demonstrated the American government’s incompetence and unwillingness to take care of people during crisis. Last year, out of necessity, we saw a resurgence of formalized mutual aid groups to fill in the cavernous gaps. The North Texas Rural Resilience crew, “a femme led collective of well-informed but misguided abolition minded harm reductionists” with a sense of humor, bloomed out of the wreckage in 2020. When the storm hit in February, their prior organizing efforts positioned them to aid people during a dangerously high-stakes moment.

I chatted with one of the cofounders about their experience during the freak storm. If their work interests you and you have the means, support them on Venmo or Cashapp: $NTRR4yall

When, how and why did your group first form? What efforts have you been focused on? 

We were formalized in September 2020. Up until then I had been going into the city to participate with a few different mutual aid organizations, as there weren't any abolitionist spaces readily available for me to contribute to within rural Hunt County where I live. Other local community workers helped me to gain the confidence and wherewithal to lead rural organizing efforts. As Harm Reductionists, our main area of focus of course is on reducing all harm. The more of our neighbors we get to know the more evident it becomes that the most rudimentary cause of harm within the communities that we service are food insecurity, wealth disparity, and housing inequity. 

What was it like to experience this snowstorm? How did your mutual aid efforts shift during it? 

I'd never seen snow that high in my life. Most of the snow seemed to have fallen over night, or maybe like the earliest part of the morning. My husband leaves for work at 2am and his footprints would be covered by the time I'd get up in the morning. I can remember the first night it snowed really hard and it sounded like a bunch of feral cats clawing the roof of the RV where we live. The second night I was certain it'd cave in. Our mutual aid efforts shifted because we really had to do a LOT of remote organizing. We had unhoused participants sheltered in a motel for the duration of the storm. Getting folks food or necessities proved to be challenging because restaurants and grocery stores where closed for days! We were literally on IG asking folks who lived in the area and had electricity to cook.  

Any memorable stories, or reactions from people you helped, that stand out?   

during the storm and even now, a lot of people were left gray and frost burnt like a Nutrisystem meal in Heidi Cruz's deep freezer. There's one fella we picked up that we didn't even intend on servicing. We were out doing our normal Friday distro on 2/12 when the cold front blew in. We'd stopped for gas at a station where we spotted an incontinent, demented, but pleasant elderly gentleman who was experiencing moderate hypothermia symptoms. My co-director, Lucy, was able to preform a medical assessment, we put him into the burrito pose that some comrades up north told us about, and determined we should call for an ambulance. shortly after a fire engine showed up, advised they couldn't transport him because he couldn't speak English to consent to transport. We inquired if they had a mylar or heat blanket, and Dallas Fire and Rescue told us they don't carry those items, and we should maybe look into carrying them ourselves. When asked what we should do with him, Dallas Fire and Rescue suggested we take him to a shelter--which were all full by this time and the convention center had not yet been opened. lol!!! so anyway. that's how we ended up sheltering participants at the hotel.  We got Senor loaded up and any other unhoused neighbors who wanted a room were welcome. We ended up securing hotel rooms for 8 different unhoused neighbors that day. 

How do you think your previous organizing work helped you mobilize for this crisis? 

Our previous work helped because we already had a cooperation over competition working relationship with other organizations within DFW so we all already kinda knew or knew of each other. Orgs were able to just reach out to other orgs and say what they need and it'd get met. 

What have you learned from this crisis? 

The government will not save. They will profit from our deaths. 

All we have is each other.

What advice would you give to other rural mutual aid groups?

Make some soup, listen to your neighbors, and show up everywhere.

Are there any lingering effects from the storm in your area? 

dude. there are still folks without water and the roads are AWFUL. lots of homes are starting to have foundation cracks. like-- all the snow and wet weather has been eroding our infrastructure  

Anything else you want to add? 

We can not begin to be free until we are ALL FREE from oppressive systems. The only way to invest in your community is by getting involved and supporting grass roots organizing in your neighborhood. 

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