Local Heroes
Montclair Resident is a Volunteer and Connector By Jackie Schatell
A
minah Toler is a connector. She also loves to volunteer. The Montclair native, who currently resides in the 4th Ward, says she finds that people often seek her out for volunteer activities, resources and information. “Because I know so many people and agencies within the town, it is easy for me to pair them together as needed,” says Aminah. At the height of Covid, Aminah joined a group of volunteers online, which later became known as Montclair Mutual Aid. The group wanted to help neighbors, especially the elderly, who were being told to stay at home, and the Montclair Moms of Color group. They held a toiletry drive for the moms because “some of the members were suffering from hardships due to unemployment not kicking in, or from having hours cut at work.” In addition, Aminah says that some of the moms did not even have diapers for their children or enough food for the week.” Over the past year, Mutual Aid has run a variety of initiatives to help members in the community. They host monthly food distributions at Glenfield Park. They also started a water affinity group for residents in the 4th Ward to provide them with safe drinking water, and through the Aisle 7 club, they distributed free menstrual products. The group also partnered with the North East Seed Coalition to help with community gardening. Their harvests were given to Toni’s Kitchen, and stocked the little free pantries seen around town. Another endeavor was to sponsor a bike safety program for children where they received free helmets and reflectors for their bikes. In addition, Mutual Aid operated a free store at Lackawanna Plaza for residents to shop for kitchen items.
Pictured here are community volunteers, (left-right): Kelly Moore, Aminah Toler, Stephanie Brantly-Thompson, Phaedra Dunn, and Kate Albright.
Aminah says that the monthly food distribution gets bigger by the month. The Montclair Art Museum brings its art truck where the kids do arts and crafts, while their parents ‘free shop.” In addition, Parents Who Rock brings musicians who perform during the event keeping the day festive. Attendees get to shop for clothing, home decor, new and gently used coats, games, toys, and more. They also receive free food bags, along with a hot lunch, which are donated by Toni’s Kitchen. “It is important to me to make these monthly events fun for all, so that participants can have a great day and feel good about themselves, while collecting the items they need,” says Aminah. “I plan to keep these events going for as long as possible because people still need help. Aminah says she “looks at these nice collaborative community events as a ‘hand up’ not a ‘hand out,’ event because the people that partake are good hard-working people who have fallen on tough times due to Covid.” “My volunteer efforts keep me busy, sane and humble,” says Aminah. “I am lucky and fortunate to live in a town where people want to help.”
Montclair High School Alumni volunteers (left-right): Aminah Toler, Jeremy Stepansky, Char O’Dair-Gadler, and Rowan O’Dair-Gadler, participate in a drive for the community. 16
Suburban Essex
Winter 2021
To donate, Montclair Mutual Aid can be reached at PO Box 1773, Montclair, NJ 07042, or via Venmo @MontclairMutualAid (9044).
