Talking to the volunteers of Red Hook Mutual Aid

Red Hook Mutual Aid calls themselves an “independent corps of local volunteers that helps connect community members to resources, information, and supplies in an accessible format.” I spoke to a few of them about their volunteer work.

“I moved to Red Hook during the pandemic and about three years ago, I was sitting in Sunny’s and a volunteer overheard my conversation and let me know that they were doing an event in Coffey Park that Saturday and said I should stop by,” said Stephen Dunn. “I met a few of the volunteers at the event and I was interested so I decided to register.” Red Hook Mutual Aid has a buddy system as well as a big group chat for the volunteers.

“For example, someone could say ‘I’m out of town but my buddy needs someone to help her get to the doctor this weekend,’ and then another volunteer could step in and help out,” Dunn said. “In my case, I ended up picking up food from the pantries in the neighborhood and delivering it to a few different households. Then I ended up getting set up with a retired school teacher who had issues with mobility and any time she could avoid having to go out and get the food, it was helpful.

“I moved to New York for college so I never dealt with NYC public schools but it was really fascinating hearing about it from a retired teacher’s perspective. She started out teaching as an entry-level job and then put in the time and work and was able to retire with a pension.”

Another time, Dunn along with another volunteer delivered and installed an air conditioner for someone.