About Us

Our Mission

The Lincoln-Sudbury Mutual Aid Network's Mission is to build community connections and help people provide support to each other during this uncertain time.

Times of crisis can make people feel like they must only look out for themselves — in reality, we know that everyone has a better chance if we stick together and support one another.

Knowing that some of us may not be able to leave our homes much and certainly no one is able to go very far, we are working to strengthen local structures to care for one another.

Our network is based in Lincoln and Sudbury but we commit to showing up for those in other communities as well. To find a network closer to you, we encourage looking through a statewide or national database of mutual aid networks.

Below are links for the Mutual Aid networks in towns adjacent

to Lincoln and Sudbury:

Framingham Coronavirus Community Outreach • Mutual Aid Lexington, Lexington HelpAroundTown • Mutual Aid Natick • Waltham Mutual Aid Network, Brandeis University Mutual Aid Network • Wayland Neighbors 4 Seniors

Our Beliefs

Everyone has things to offer and everyone has things that they need.

Needing things is not a personal failure — we are living in a profoundly unequal society without sufficient safety nets. This is not a personal fault, and we believe in taking collective responsibility for getting everyone through times of crisis.

This is an experiment.

No one knows everything but together we know a lot, and we are committed to trying to make this work for everyone.

All flourishing is mutual.

We trust each other to be honest about our needs and recognize everyone's agency to know what is best for themselves.

This too shall pass.

This time is certainly uncomfortable, but we are learning to adapt and overcome these challenges until the situation resolves to a new normal.

What is Mutual Aid?

"Mutual Aid is a practice and politics that emphasizes solidarity rather than charity. What does that mean? It means we recognize that our well-being, health and dignity are all bound up in each other. It means that we understand our survival depends on cooperation, not competition. In this particular moment, we see that our health is also dependent on other people’s health, and we can literally save each other’s lives. Rather than disengage and feel powerless, mutual aid allows us to plug in where we can make the most impact — locally."

— Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit

The Lincoln-Sudbury Mutual Aid Network supports the Collective Values written and created by mutual aid networks across Massachusetts.

To view these values, click here.

We would like to acknowledge the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Nipmuck and Pawtucket nations on which we are organizing and learning on today. This land was stolen through genocide, epidemics and colonization from the Nipmuck and Pawtucket people. We hope that by acknowledging this we are able to start conversations and uplift indigenous peoples voices of the past, present and future. Mutual aid is the community based effort to support our neighbors and we are committed to doing that work for all.

Read about our commitment to

Accessibility, Safety, and Transparency Here

We embody these values by

Keeping it simple. We use low-tech tools that keep the barrier to entry low and our resources accessible to all. We prioritize accessibility, and try to make things easy to learn and participate in.

Keeping it safe. We protect people’s information and offer community support if anyone feels threatened.

Spreading out the work. We maintain a distributed organizing network and are developing a system where local levels can operate independently and create solutions for their specific needs.

Finishing what we start. We respond to requests in a timely way and are transparent about what we do and do not have the capacity to support.

Listening and reflecting. We ask and listen to what people need, and shift our actions in response to best serve our community.

Working towards making this work accessible. If you need something translated or communicated in a different language please let us know. We are building a multilingual network to support all of our neighbors.

Centering racial justice. We know that wealth and safety nets have been systematically taken apart for people of color over generations, leaving people more vulnerable in crises like this. We commit to mutual aid support as a form of resource redistribution and weaving of a new community-held safety net for all.

A huge Thank You to Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville's documents, which inspired some of the language here.

Restaurant Takeout and Delivery Resources