(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)
As Portlanders come to grips with life during the time of the coronavirus outbreak, people are already finding ways to help those in need.
One thing I’ve just come across is the Mutual Aid Network. Set up just yesterday, this collective of organizations has already signed up hundreds of volunteers. With a Facebook page, Instagram account and a Google Form, they want to connect people who can make deliveries with people who need stuff but are unable to get it themselves.
“We are prioritizing assistance to folks who are sick, unhoused, disabled, quarantined without pay, elderly, undocumented, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, trans, and/or queer, including those displaced from Portland to the nearby areas,” reads a message from the volunteer organizers.
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Given that our community is full of helpful people with cargo bikes, I figured this effort should be on your radar.
If you’re able to help, all you do is fill out the Google Form and tell them you have a bike, how much you can carry, and a bit more information.
Thanks for helping others. And keep social distancing.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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I’ll help anyone regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation.
How is having 20-40 year old Typoid Mike/Mary rando-bikers making contact with dozens of potentially high-risk residents compatible with “social distancing”?
Have a look at the graph here, search for: To simulate more social distancing, instead of allowing a quarter of the population to move, we will see what happens when we let just one of every eight people move.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
To underscore that great comparison above, also consider: these deliveries are being placed on the porch (when possible). The high-risk recipient is only being exposed to the packages, not every other thing and person in the grocery store. The exposure to that rando typhoid mary is not a direct contact.