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Help the Occupy Supply Fund ship 100% union made, American manufactured
cold weather gear to occupations.
I was privileged enough to travel to Hartford CT this week to visit my family for the holiday. I traveled from Washington DC to Connecticut by train with over 50lbs of OccupySupply cold weather clothing.
I was given directions by my stepmother who is a state representative. She told me she passed by the occupation every day that she goes to legislative sessions. The occupation is about .5 miles from the Legislative Office Building. Its location could be a little bit better, but they do have a spot where they are not bothered by police and it has potential to hold a lot of people.
As soon as I got there I went to the comfort station which was in fairly rough shape. The ground was soaked and many of the tents, including the comfort station, were somewhat improvised and very flimsy. There were about 25 tents with a head count of about 48 people as far as I could tell. I was told a lot of people were back taking showers and getting supplies.
I met with two people; one was named Maira who was in charge of the comfort station and outreach, the other was Jairule (pronounced the same as the rapper, jah-rool.) He told me that they had been trying to get in touch of Firedoglake, and that they had been wondering if they were ever going to see supplies delivered.
The best part of my visit was that I got to watch the comfort station managers hand out some of the supplies to the occupiers Maira was trying to be very democratic distributing the items. I was happy to see that we had just enough hats for everyone, so nobody that was there was going to go without at least one piece of clothing from the supply fund.
We are continuing to deliver goods across the country everyday. Over 20 packages went out on Wednesday along with the 30 packages that went out last Saturday. So far, over 30 states have received starter packages or second deliveries.
 Comfort Station |
 Jairule |
16 Comments
Thank you for your work, update, and interesting history. (and the pictures)
What are the parts, or sections, of a comfort station? (sorry for the dumb question)
recc’d.
I hope you will be able to help the 99% in the shadow of Skull And Bones on the New Haven Green. I believe their occupation there is an important outpost, worth maintaining and very much in view by the aristocracy.They are in dire need of 4 season tents like you had supplied to Zucotti Park. Regards to all.
It must be so rewarding to see the looks on people’s faces when they get #OccupySupply gear, especially after all your hard work, Kevin. These reports as you travel across America’s #Occupy landscape are simply spectacular. Keep up the great work!
And best wishes to you for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with your family in Connecticut. They must be very proud of you — they raised a superb activist, a great writer, and a wonderful human being.
I feel like such an idiot that it’s taken me until today to realize that, given the volatile state of the economy right now, in less than a month I might well need a place like this not just to donate to but to get donations from. I am so blind to the obvious. :-(
Hazarding a guess here, but the tents with the tarps over the top would seem to indicate that a lot of those tents are no longer water-repellent in their natural state. The over-tarps may also serve to help hold in a little extra heat, but not much.
One thing that is big help inside larger tents are discarded pallets. They allow you to get up off the cold and wet ground.
I received a package for Occupy Houston about an hour ago.
It will be delivered tonight along with a fried turkey.
Coach.
Ryan, I wonder if you might send me the link that page that was discussed during the webinar, and a link to an application to get supplied. My husband is minimally in touch with Occupy Lincoln (NE); it’s his hometown, thus the interest.
Local police and city council have been tremendously accommodating to Occupiers, and Mr. wendydavis’s father just told him over the phone that their small tent city seems to be growing. ;o)
They report that they could sure us some warm warm clothes, blankets, etc. ;o)
Thanks for all you’re doing, dear Ryan.
http://www.occupylincoln.net
(They even have a tipi pitched now! How cool is that???)
The Comfort tent at Occupy New Haven was recently blown over in a rainstorm, resulting in all of the clothes stored therein being completely soaked. Some will be washed and dried, but perhaps not all, and can’t be worn in the meantime. It would be really helpful to send some warm clothing in our direction. In my experience, ONH doesn’t get nearly enough attention in the Occupy movement. As suggested above, it’s important to have an Occupy group housed just outside of the bastion of 1%-er ideology that is Yale. ONH is also poised to incorporate minority voices into the movement, efforts to do which we are now stepping up.
It’s Ryan who’s writing this and made the visit, non?
Sorry, yes… HI RYAN, good work, man!
Thanks, Coach!
I received a package for OccupyAustin today. Opening it was like Christmas. KrisAinTX and I will deliver it tomorrow accompanied by cbl, oldnslow and casual observer. I emailed the list of what we received to our contact on the ground so she could begin planning for who gets what. The quality of the clothing is awesome. Those fleece scarves and fleece hoodies and pullovers are impressive. And the wool sox are so big and thick.
I anxiously await our opportunity to buy them for our very own selves. I can’t wait to have clothing that says OccupySupply on it.
(((hug)))
Thanks, Ryan! and everyone who is making this program work.
Glad that there are so many FDL members near New Haven to make deliveries and provide support.
P.S. ‘Warming the country, one hat at a time’ is terrific!