Zede Harut, founder of Seeds Worth Sowing, says the non-profit started in response to the impact of George Floyd’s murder on caregivers.
“Black and brown caregivers and mothers were impacted by the burnings of buildings and lots of grocery stores being inaccessible,” she said. “I was seeing how many families were struggling with finding transportation to the next closest stores, and transportation to go get their children even. A lot of things were being severely impacted for parents and caregivers, so I started to mobilize.”
Zede says Seeds Worth Sowing began as small community events before expanding into a nonprofit.
“We started to host healing events, and those events were about bringing us together to be in joy and safety and getting energy work done with all the stress that we were dealing with as black and brown people,” said Zede. “Since then, we've made more programs and resources and events to be able to center primarily Black and brown caregivers.”
Zede says it was her personal experience as a 20 year old first time mom in need of assistance that inspired her desire to create a judgment-free alternative solution.
“After I got assistance from the county I felt really degraded,” she reflected. “It was so embarrassing - it was so humiliating. A lot of Black and brown people experience harm from charitable organizations, which is why we try and emphasize–although we are a nonprofit - we're trying to move away from the concept of charity, and move more into mutual aid and mutual support for one another because charity brings in a hierarchy. We should be mutually finding ways to support each other without it having to be tiered or leveled.”
Zede says historically and culturally, mutual aid funds have been a revolutionary act against capitalism.
“It’s revolutionary because the whole concept of capitalism is to focus on yourself and your own goals and your own vision and your own growth and success, whereas mutual aid is–there's always going to be a benefit that you gain when you take care of someone and when they take care of you. We have healing, we have restoration, and we have reduced harm when we come together as a village.”
You can find out more about Seeds Worth Sowing at SeedsWorthSowing.org.
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