The group was created in April 2022, but it really started to take off at the beginning of September 2022. Originally we were Cleveland, TN Community Resources, in April of 2023 we rebranded and are now South East Tennessee Mutual Aid Network.
We are a mutual aid collective that focuses on food insecurity, but we also provide a space for members in the community to reach out for help. Through the Cleveland, TN Mutual Aid Network facebook group, we share resources to members of the community, as well as provide a space for community members to crowdfund for emergency situations (impending eviction, getting electricity back on, car troubles, etc.). Mutual aid however is not just strictly for desperate needs, it also includes what some people may classify as "wants" (birthday gift, eating out, arts & crafts materials, etc.).

We also stock local OPEN Community Pantries, with food from our personal funds, and encourage members of the community to do the same. If you are unable to physically put food in the pantries, you can purchase something from the community pantry wish list, and one of our volunteers will get it deployed to the pantries. If you have physical non-perishable items to donate to the Open Community Pantries, but you are unable to get to the pantries to drop items off, you can schedule a pickup here.

We are constantly adding to a master list of resources in our city, which is available to anyone! If you know of something not on the Resource List, shoot us an email!

We also post things regularly to help folks save money, like local events, deals, grocery sales, etc.
Check out our LinkTree for our Resource List, Facebook Group, Instagram, & more.
https://linktr.ee/SouthEastTNMutualAidNetwork