Feb. 28 — Over the weekend of the 15th, Hampshire College was inundated by a winter storm that brought snow, sleet, hail, and rain, piling on top of a lesser storm earlier in the week. The whole of campus was blanketed in thick layers of ice and snow, keeping the college closed or operating remotely for most of the week.
While Facilities and Grounds worked overtime to clear the snow and ice with everything from shovels to heavy machinery for much of the following week, students stepped up to help assist Facilities and dig students with mobility aids out of their mods.
Hampshire Free Grocery Network, a self-described “network of people working to source and share free food”, stepped up to organize priority snow clearing on the 17th, taking requests from students needing help getting out of their mod and soliciting help via their Instagram story (@hampfreegrocery).
Hampshire Free Grocery Network told Leapfrog “Our main focus is normally food, however, the strategies we use to coordinate food can be adapted for shoveling/other forms of mutual aid.”
Senior Director of Facilities and Grounds, Steve Duffy told Leapfrog that Facilities “would like to extend a huge thank you for the patience, efforts, and care that everyone showed as we tackled this complicated storm together over several days,” and said “it was truly uplifting to see so many students helping around campus during and after the storm.” Duffy also offered a special thanks to students who brought workers baked goods and left thank you notes, adding a warning to watch out for mud as the weather warms up.
For Hampshire Free Grocery Network’s part, the group says its focusing on getting its main project, grocery sourcing and sharing, back up and running but it still has shovels available for use and is happy to help coordinate help with shoveling as well.
Anyone interested in connecting with the group should follow its Instagram (@hampfreegrocery) for updates and information, and DM to get more involved. Anyone who sees another unmet need on campus is invited to reach out to talk about what the group has found effective in doing mutual aid organizing at Hampshire College.
REVIEWED BY: Ryan Nivus, Axen Wetzel, Verne Gulley, Ana Chin
