#winter storm

[teathattast]

[ellewantsrevenge]

MASTER LIST OF WAYS TO HELP IN MINNEAPOLIS

(this list is mainly ways non-locals can donate but by extension offers a lot of resources and places to volunteer in the Twin Cities + there are specific ways to donate time under the cut which can be adjusted to your local neighborhood)

full credit to cataloo from r/minnesota [x]

🩵Immigrant support

Immigrant Defense Network – coalition of 90+ groups organizing rapid response and collecting evidence.

Immigrant Law Center of MN – free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees.

COPAL – advocacy, organizing, phone hotline. Focus on Latine community.

Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) – education and protest organizing.

Interfaith Coalition on Immigration – advocacy, aid, events.

Monarca MN – training and phone hotline.

Unidos MN – education, protests, advocacy.

Center for Victims of Torture – advocacy and mental health services for immigrants and refugees.

International Institute of Minnesota – refugee resettlement group that provides support and legal help to vulnerable new-to-country families.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota – offers services to refugees, including legal aid to non-citizens.

🩵Food support

If local, food donations are welcome, otherwise monetary donations help these types of orgs source what is most needed

VEAP

La Vina Community Church/Iglesia Cristiana La Viña Burnsville

Second Harvest Heartland

Every Meal

The Food Group

Meals on Wheels MN

Find a local food shelf

🩵Mutual aid funds & community support

Community Aid Network

Twin Cities Trans Mutual Aid

Leo's Tow (Venmo @leostowingmn) is towing cars back to families if a car is stranded when someone is detained.

🩵More links

MN50501 Mutual Aid Linktree – well-organized list of various Twin Cities groups.

Mplsmutualaid Linktree – many neighborhood and individual GoFundMes listed here.

Mpls.St.Paul Magazine – see Food Drives and Fundraisers.

Stand with Minnesota – extensive list of organizations, mutual aid, and crowdfunding campaigns.

🩵Donate blood

Memorial Blood Center declared a blood emergency on Tuesday, Jan 13. MBC is the blood supplier for both tier 1 trauma hospitals in the metro area (Hennepin County Medical Center and North Memorial Health).

American Red Cross

🩵Donate food or other goods

Mpls.St.Paul Magazine – see Food Drives and Fundraisers.

Volunteer your time (under the cut)

🩵Mutual aid

Reach out to your neighbors – especially if you know they are staying home right now – and ask if they need groceries or toiletry items. Offer to pick up prescriptions, give rides, or shovel their driveway. If you know them well, bring them a treat that you know they'll enjoy. Or just ask them how they're doing and let them know you are there to support.

Connect with any of the orgs above and see if they are looking for volunteers.

Connect with a church or mosque in your area. From u/MuddieMaeSuggins: "I know a lot of regular Redditors are not religious (myself included) but like it or not this is a where a lot of community organizing happens, especially in immigrant communities."

Connect with your local school's admin office and/or their PTA. It's ok to reach out even if you don't have kids at the school. PTAs are organizing mutual aid for school families, safe rides, school observers.

🩵Activism

Find an official protest or other event via Indivisible, 50501, FREE AMERICA, or MIRAC. Students at many high schools are staging walk-outs; if your local school is doing this, reach out to school leadership or the PTA and ask how you can support as a community member.

Join the effort to stop Hilton from housing ICE by booking hotel rooms and then cancelling at the last minute. This action can be done from home! The effort is being organized by Sunrise Movement, who are telling activists to target specific hotels one-by-one. More info: SHUT DOWN HILTON

Find people in your area who are actively monitoring ICE and/or stationing themselves in high-traffic areas and ask how you can help. Check for local FB events where people are organizing and just show up.

At minimum, read the COPAL Handbook before you go out to observe. The DFL, Monarca, and other orgs have been hosting online trainings for constitutional observers (though these fill up quickly).

When you see ICE in action, start recording. Be as loud and as disruptive as possible: honk your horn, set off your car alarm, blow your whistle. Let people know that ICE is in the area. If you see someone being detained, try to get their name and a phone number to call their emergency contact.

If you do not feel comfortable observing ICE in person, there are ways you can support from home. Just ask the people who are organizing in your area. I have social anxiety, and I had never participated in any kind of political action before this past Saturday. If I can do it, you can!

Local organizers are requesting that people who help monitor ICE DO NOT participate in 1-to-1 mutual aid efforts, as these can put the families you are helping at risk.

If you have friends/acquaintances who are sympathetic but not politically active, reach out to them. Show them that they're not alone in feeling helpless. Pick a few low-commitment actions from this list and do them together.

[mettatonsass]

PSA DO NOT USE PORTABLE GAS HEATERS INDOORS!!!

Hi this psa is brought to you by my boss nearly killing us via carbon monoxide poisoning.

Heaters like this are labelled for Indoor/Outdoor usage, however that indoor label is misleading af.

Indoors in this context means a drafty garage or car port, not your living room or bedroom. Unless the room you're in is well ventilated with fresh air, don't use this fucker indoors.

Please reblog for visibility, this could quite literally save a life.

[briargeese]

Winter waves at Lake Michigan.

[trophobolene]

Silence of a winter storm

Kalamazoo, Michigan

Canon Rebel T3, 18-135mm

[fawnduu]

Cow Abbi is working hard to make sure everyone has power during this winter storm!❄️

[breelandwalker]

Reminder to everyone facing a weekend of snow and dangerously-cold temps to go get an extra ration of pet food, people food, drinking water, toilet paper, and personal necessaries NOW. If possible, also grab an emergency blanket, some portable heating pads (like Hot Hands body warmers), battery-operated lanterns, and batteries, and fill your gas tank to keep the lines from freezing while your car sits. If you don't have a snow shovel, find a cardboard shipping box and keep the flaps.

Charge all your devices and portable power packs. Keep your thermostat at 65F or above to make sure your pipes don't freeze. Fill your bathtub or a large soup kettle or spare water jugs with tap water for cleaning and flushing toilets in case the pipes do freeze in your area. Apply scrap fabric, newspaper, or weatherstripping to any gaps or leaks in your door and window frames. Use spare towels to block the bottoms of drafty doors.

Friday and Saturday, everything's going to be a madhouse and the shelves will be empty. So prep now, if you haven't already, and reach out to your near and dear to check in and establish emergency plans. Once things get started, STAY HOME and don't take unnecessary risks.

Better to overprepare and wonder later why you worried than to shrug it off and regret.

Be safe and stay warm!

[talekinesis]

Hey Southern Friends

Y'all are about to get a shit ton of snow, ice, and feezing temperatures, so as someone from the North, I have some advice

If temperatures drop below 25° F, you may want to leave your sinks trickling or dripping over night to avoid the pipes freezing

‼️Keep cat litter in your car if you have to drive. If you get stuck in the snow, you can pour the cat litter under your tires to give them traction

If your hands are stiff and freezing, don't immediately put them in front of a heater or under hot water, you can burst your blood vessels doing that, because they'll try to expand too quickly. You want to slowly thaw them out until you get feeling back in them and can move them properly again

Don't lick your lips when they get dry, you'll make it worse due to the cold and dry air, just wait until you get inside somewhere and use lip balm

Cold air will come through your windows and the cracks in your doors (if you live in an old house), seal them up best you can. My family puts a sort of cling film over the windows to keep the cold air out and the warm air in

If you have a basement (in an old house), cold air will come from there, too. We have a trapdoor in our pantry and it gets COLD

‼️It's a good idea to keep extra blankets or jackets in your car, because if you do end up sliding off the road, it might take some time for someone to reach you

Share this around so more people see it

Any other northerners who have more advice, feel free to share in the comments or in reblogs

Be safe and take care