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100% of all subscriber fees go to mutual aid for people in need ... consider joining this part of our community.
Dear Ones,
If you have been enjoying what I have been writing and the conversations that come from it, I hope you will take a moment and consider taking another step deeper into this community.
Being a paid subscriber to Mutual Aid does not get you any additional content,. My hope for this substack is that it becomes a fully open community of conversation, truth-telling, and mutual support … and for that to happen there can’t be any barriers – particularly financial – to anyone’s joining and fully participating.
And … of the 900 total subscribers, 95 are paid … either at $8/month, $80/year or the founding member annual donation of $240/year.
If you are one of those 95 … THANK YOU.
If you are not … I hope you will seriously and prayerfully consider becoming one.
Click here to subscribe!
This is not income generating for me. That’s not what mutual aid is about. One hundred percent of all subscriber fees go to mutual aid for people in need. When the aid is distributed, I am clear that it is not from me but from this community.
I keep an accurate ledger of all grants from the fund … though because of confidentiality I cannot reveal names (particularly since many of the recipients are undocumented) … and my pledge to you is to regularly report back on the good you have done.
In the past year (since May 1, 2025), this community’s subscription fees have generated $7509.90.
That has gone into 16 gifts in four broad categories:
Transportation and rental assistance for undocumented people in the face of ICE raids - $2,020
Assistance for income replacement and therapy for women harmed in the church - $3,800
General rental assistance for people facing eviction - $6,200
Repayment of medical debt or assistance with medical expenses - $1225
The gratitude I have received on your behalf has been deeply moving.
Click here to subscribe!
Just one story…
I sat at the kitchen table of a wonderful woman from El Salvador who was afraid to go to her jobs cleaning houses because ICE was boarding city buses and snatching people away. Your gifts allowed her to take Lyfts to work. She wept as she told me to thank you all.
This community’s generosity has helped a trans couple stay in their home after facing employment discrimination and helped someone else keep her sister out of homelessness, and help pay for a child’s medical procedure when insurance wouldn’t cover the full amount.
Thank you.
Now … four other things.
First, mutual aid is not charity … we thrive as a community when those among us who are at a life stage where we can give and those among us who are at a life stage where we need to receive are in community together — knowing that those roles can change at any time and all are equally valued.
Many, many people cannot afford even $8 a month or $80 a year. If that’s you, please know how much we love having you in this community. And we want more and more people regardless of ability to give financially — we all give to each other in so many ways.
So, please spread the word about Mutual Aid and encourage others to subscribe — free or paid, it’s the same content — so we can keep growing this community.
Second, it’s not a community conversation if it’s just one voice. Please comment on the various platforms. Join the conversation. And … if you have your own Substack, please let me know so we can promote that and become a web of transformative conversation.
Third, if there are topics that you would like to hear more about, please contact me and let me know. Again, the point of this is not monologue! My email is mkinman (at) gmail (dot) com.
Finally, so far, I have been the sole decision maker as to how funds are spent. This is not a healthy community system. My hope is that 3-5 paid subscribers would be willing to come aboard as a team that would
-decide whether a gift will be made and the amount of the gift.
-hold in confidentiality the names of people who are receiving gifts as an accountability check for me.
-encourage new subscribers and also bring people who could use mutual aid gifts to the table.
If you think you might be interested in that and are a paid subscriber, please contact me at mkinman (at) gmail (dot) com, and we will begin that conversation.
And if you’re not a paid subscriber … click here and become one and then contact me.
Now, you might have noticed that the outflow of the fund is significantly greater than the inflow ($7,509.90 - $13,245 = -$5,735.1). I am certainly responsible for that gap because there were people I just couldn’t turn down (a perpetual fault of mine)… and particularly until I get a steady income, I’m not going to be able to make any additional gifts until the books are balanced and additional funds are raised. Which brings me to:
If you are already a subscriber, have decided to subscribe now or still want to either stay a Facebook reader or free subscriber, if you can, consider an additional one-time gift to make up the deficit and build up the fund so together we can continue to grow this community of mutual aid. You can do that easily through Venmo at @Mike-Kinman.
And … whether or not you can do any of these things, let me end where I began.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You are what makes mutual aid a vibrant reality.
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