Infinite Gratitude, Infinite Resilience: A Message From MADR

Report from Mutual Aid Disaster Relief on autonomous mutual aid organizing in 2025. 

It’s been a long, full year already. Floods, typhoons, tornados, fires, and heat waves amplified by climate change are being compounded by the cutting of social services, the defunding and dismantling of FEMA and other disaster-focused organizations, inflation, the kidnapping of community members by ICE, violence against the unhoused, and the worsening genocide in Gaza.

Thanks to many people’s generosity, we started the year with an unprecedented budget, much of it after Hurricanes Helene and Milton. That surge of support allowed us to move quickly: solar panels in consistently impacted areas, water treatment education and systems development, the establishment of work crew tool libraries, and survival supplies and groceries into impacted communities; standing with comrades in Tijuana, Oaxaca, Cairo, Gaza, and the Philippines; and helping people meet urgent needs from storms, displacement, and fascist violence.

We were able to support ongoing MADR survival programs and develop new programs to address needs we had identified through lessons learned over the last decade, such as programs focused on food sovereignty and disaster communications infrastructure, including a budding ham radio network! We were also able to work with partners to launch or sustain work that is aligned with the MADR mission, such as the Highlander Center and our collaboration with the Fire on the Mountain program; The Climate Mobilization and Dogbane Movement Hub and Retreat Center and our collaboration on water treatment and water and energy sustainability education workshops and builds; a new community-led MADR Search and Rescue (SAR) program initiative; and medic trainings and herbalist support for trauma care.

Now that those funds have been put to work, our accounts are lean again. To stay sustainable and ensure we are able to address needs during the current hurricane season, we need to slow down expenses for the time being. We’ll continue honoring commitments and responding where we can, and within our means, but we’re asking volunteers and partners to spend thoughtfully, intentionally, and with an intersectional movement mindset. When and where possible, we encourage volunteers to be creative while building resilience and autonomy within their communities and to build upon existing relationships and support networks while we rebuild MADR’s shared resources.

If you would like to help us build the world we want to see and live in, and you’re able, please make a donation today. As an all-volunteer network, every contribution directly fuels survival, resilience, and solidarity. If you have access to greater wealth and want to redistribute it, we’d love to connect about how your giving can meet urgent needs right now. Donate here and/or reach out to us at info@mutualaiddisasterrelief.org.

If donations are not where you can contribute, we’re also always looking for people to help with fundraising, communications, and all the behind-the-scenes work that keeps this solidarity network alive. The hivemind is strong! Join us!

And, if you’ve put MADR resources to use in your community, please share photos, videos, or stories (with consent) with us so we can shout you out, amplify your work, and so others can see working models of resilience and how donations can translate into care and survival.

Infinite gratitude to everyone on the ground, driving groceries to hungry families, mucking out flooded homes, distributing air filters and masks, rebuilding roofs, building infrastructure for autonomy and survival, and treating people with love and dignity regardless of status. With or without money, you are not alone. We hope to always be the wind at your back.

In Solidarity,

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief