At the start of 2020, amid the height of tight pandemic restrictions in Queensland, I decided I wanted to give back to those around me. In some kind of effort to stave off the isolated feelings of COVID-19, I began to engage in mutual aid groups that focused heavily on the voluntary exchange of resources and caring for one another and the community.<\/p>\n
One such community was Food Assistance Angels, a group of folks from my local and surrounding Brisbane areas who all had a passion for helping those struggling with meals during lockdown. Tasia Amber, owner and head chef at Wild Spice Kitchen, was the founder of the initiative. \u201cI wanted to create something that helped people connect through food,\u201d Tasia reflects. \u201cThat is something we have been doing through all of history. Sharing food makes us feel less alone, makes us feel connected to the one who made it, to those we eat it with.\u201d<\/p>\n
When times are tough, we often fall back on those connections of kindness and strength within our neighbourhoods, networks and families. \u201cHumans are not islands,\u201d agrees Tasia. \u201cWhen you are told that you can do everything yourself you will always be left feeling less than, because no one is built that way. And suddenly you have a global pandemic and we are all more cut off from each other than usual.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tasia used the tools she had available as a chef and reached out to her social networks for the missing pieces: she sought more cooks (of which I was one), money for ingredients, and drivers to deliver homemade food to those who had lost jobs or were in need. \u201cAnd then,\u201d Tasia says, \u201ceven if just a little, we all felt a bit more connected and a little less isolated in a time of disconnection.\u201d<\/p>\n
During this time I cooked stacks of meals for differing dietary requirements and helped coordinate drivers and drop-offs, but most importantly I made new friends. The positive, community-oriented energy the Angels gave me meant I started talking to my neighbours more; we shared gardening tips and a cheeky bit of horse manure to help our apartment gardens flourish.<\/p>\n
To seek out more tips, I joined the gardening group Growing Forward Brisbane (Meanjin)*. Founding member Hope Foley describes the group as \u201ca grassroots approach to guerilla gardening that aims to create closed systems of mutual aid within the community, as well as promoting greater localised food resiliency against future environmental and health crises\u201d. Their aim is not just one of human connection, but of human resilience.<\/p>\n
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