Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sunnyside & Woodside Mutual Aid (SWMA) has acted collectively to address community needs and take care of each other. Nearly four years later, we have continued our work to build connections with our neighbors to develop alternative care-based responses that meet the needs of our communities. From individuals and community gardens to food pantries and social clubs, we collaborate to share the abundance of resources that exists and to create and implement channels to equitably redistribute it amongst our neighbors.

This past year, we celebrated the 3rd year of operating our mobile food pantries, which continue to be our primary focus. Every Saturday, we distribute free groceries through weekly pop-up pantries at the 61st St-Woodside MTA Station and Woodside Houses. This effort has required us to streamline our workflows, food sourcing, and coalition building to remain sustainable. 

We have continued to nurture an informal partnership with One Community in Brooklyn to support their food distrubtion by offering transportation, and in return, they support our pantries with carloads of fresh produce and dried goods they send with us back to Queens.

Our Woodside Houses pantry site has been a space of collaboration with MusCare and Muslims Giving Back that operate The Hunger Truck, a free halal food truck. Once a month, they bring their truck to our site and give out hot meals to all who show up, including the 70+ community members who come to receive groceries from our pop-up pantry. On occasion, MusCare's volunteers have jumped in to assist us during food distribution when our turnout is low and we need extra help.

This summer, we were thrilled to share the bounty of three local volunteer-run community gardens that grew produce for SWMA to redistribute through our pantries: Rusty Wheelbarrow Farm, Sunnyside Community Garden, and the 45th Street Composters. All of the gardens operate community composting sites where they collect food scraps that are broken down to fertilize the soil and grow fresh herbs, juicy tomatoes, hefty squashes, and more. 45th Street Composters invited us to harvest seasonal produce with their help, and Sunnyside Community Garden harvested crops grown in their community garden plots for us to pick-up. Rusty Wheelbarrow Farm is a unique garden and composting site located at the back of St. Jacobus Lutheran Church that houses our operations. Rusty was started by Benjamin Lucas with the sole intention to grow food for SWMA's pantries to meet the needs of food-insecure community members, utilizing the power of compost. Rusty's team of dedicated gardeners and composters turns food scraps into nutritious compost and grow organic fruits and vegetables in a closed loop food justice system. The garden has beautified the greenspace, and serves as an educational site where volunteers of all ages can learn about the connections between mutual aid, social justice, and biodiversity. 

We continue to use donations to purchase additional produce from a local food hub and food justice organization, Connected Chef, and are working to source more of our dried pantry staples from them in 2024.

Finally, we are wrapping up the year with exciting news: we are receiving 8 CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares from the Sunnyside CSA for their winter share program with Pleasant Valley Farm in New York state. We are excited to increase the variety and diversity of locally-grown food we redistribute, and to share the abundance of regenerative agriculture at our food pantries.

Several of our members and neighbors have used their skills and passions to fundraise for SWMA over the last year. Fundraisers include a food writing and tasting workshop series that organizes pops-up in different local venues; Brightside Clay, which donates a portion of sales from handmade jewelry; Sunnyside Social mixers; and the Sanger Hall Open Mic Night.

We welcomed 75+ new members this year and grew our mailing list to almost 800 subscribers. We also hosted informal community gatherings and two SWMA potlucks: a summer Pride-themed outdoor meal and an indoor harvest potluck, both at the St. Jacobus church.

$12,340+ on shelf-stable groceries distributed at our pop-up pantries

$12,069+ on fresh produce distributed at our pop-up pantries, sourced from our friends at the Connected Chef

$1,130+ on collaborating with and supporting local community projects and groups including a water permit for the 45th Street Composters, a Mother's Day distribution organized by Undocu Mami Mutual Aid, and purchasing essentials for migrant families being supported through a project at St. Jacobus Lutheran Church

$78+ on transporting supplies to and from our pop-up pantries

As a grassroots and volunteer-led group, we have been able to keep our overhead expenses such as web hosting and online tools to about $280, less than 1.2% of all spending this year.

In 2024, we will continue to prioritize the sustainability of our efforts. We hope to resume tabling at the Sunnyside Greenmarket, which will help increase visibility of our work, solicit donations, and encourage more people in the community to get involved. If you have ideas or would like get involved, sign up at swma.nyc/join to receive our weekly newsletter and an invitation to our Slack.

We want to thank over 500 of our friends, family members, and neighbors for playing a crucial role in our work by contributing to our Open Collective. If you would like to set up a recurring donation or make an additional one-time contribution, you can do so at swma.nyc/donate.

Happy holidays and see you in 2024!