the we help us hotline:
share your story of lgbtqia mutual aid
Minnesota’s LGBTQIA community has a rich history of mutual aid. Many of the organizations that now serve our community were started decades ago by small groups of people who took care of one another when no one else would, and mutual aid networks continue to be a lifeline for our community today. When systems fail and institutions ignore us, LGBTQIA people have each other’s backs.
The WE HELP US hotline is an attempt to document and preserve stories of LGBTQIA mutual aid. We invite you to call in and leave a message sharing an experience of queer mutual aid (receiving it, offering it, or both). These stories will be archived for future generations, and potentially utilized in a narrative storytelling art project.
Call 1-844-WE-HLP-US (1-844-934-5787) now to share your story of LGBTQIA mutual aid in Minnesota!
guidelines
Please call from a quiet area and utilize headphones for clearer audio, if possible.
If you’d prefer to record audio with a microphone and email it in, you may do so by sending an audio (.wav format preferred) file to wehelpusmn@gmail.com
Consider addressing one of the following questions at the end of your story:
What did it feel like to give or receive care (or both)?
What did it feel like to know your community had your back, or that you were responsible to the people around you?
What are your hopes for the continuation and expansion of LGBTQIA mutual aid?
Why do you think others should participate in it?
You may include your name if you wish to, but you can also stay anonymous if you prefer. Please be sensitive when sharing a story that involves other people, and be careful not to disclose private information about someone else without their permission.
If you have multiple stories you’d like to share, feel free to call in a couple times, but please be mindful of the humans going through these messages by not spamming the line and keeping calls on topic. If you make a mistake while recording, please do not hang up and call in with a second version of the same message, unless absolutely necessary. Instead, just say you made a mistake and start that part of the story over again.
Hate for any members of our LGBTQIA community will not be tolerated, and those who abuse this line will be dealt with appropriately.
We recommend keeping audio recordings under 2 minutes, so consider focusing on a moment of care, rather than a full story that requires a lot of context and detail.
Please only share stories that took place in Minnesota.
use
These stories of community care will be audio recorded for potential use in a narrative art project. Most will also be archived at the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at the University of Minnesota, which is the biggest LGBTQIA archive in the upper Midwest and one of the largest in the country.
Our hope is that collecting and sharing these stories will allow us to preserve important histories, offer examples for people seeking opportunities to get involved in mutual aid efforts, and challenge all of us to ask what more we can be doing for our friends and neighbors.
spread the word
We’d love your help getting the word out. We’ve made printable versions of our posters, which you can download here to print and post around your community. We recommend printing them on colorful, attention-grabbing paper, if you can! You can also click here to download social media friendly versions of the posters to help spread the word online.
If you put posters up, please take a photo of it and send it to us at wehelpusmn@gmail.com and/or post it on Instagram and tag us at @goodjudypods. Below is an example photo.
events
If you’d prefer not to call the line, please join us for an in-person recording session at Quatrefoil Library!
Saturday, August 9th, 3 p.m.–5 p.m.
Quatrefoil Library Community Room
1220 E. Lake St.
Minneapolis, MN
55407
mutual aid resources
If you are seeking mutual aid, or looking for ways to get involved in community care efforts, we recommend reaching out to one of our wonderful community partners:
Twin Cities Trans Mutual Aid
Twin Cities Trans Mutual Aid is a mutual aid network supporting and amplifying the material needs of trans folks in the Twin Cities, Minnesota.
TIGERRS
TIGERRS, or Transgender, Intersex, Gender-Expansive Revolutionary Resources & Services, is a nonhierarchical collective dedicated to delivering programs and resources that build solidarity and safety among transgender, intersex and gender-expansive Minnesotans.
Southside Harm Reduction Services
Southside Harm Reduction Services offers harm reduction, naloxone, and basic need supplies directly to our participants through delivery and outreach programs, offers rapid HIV/HCV testing, and linkage to care and resources.
Sanctuary Supply Depot
We collect and distribute survival supplies to our Unhoused neighbors, who we stand in solidarity with. In partnership with our hosts at GMCC, we also provide showers, meals, clothes, and community on Fridays from 11-2.
Quatrefoil Library
Quatrefoil Library is a community center that cultivates the free exchange of ideas and makes accessible LGBTQ+ materials for education and inspiration.
Queermunity
Queermunity is a Minneapolis-based event venue, gathering space, and café that uplifts LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities through regenerative, community-driven programming, affirming resources, and support for local creators and small businesses.
Community Kitchen Minnesota
Community Kitchen prepares, packs, and delivers hundreds of meals each week to unhoused neighbors around Minneapolis. Stop by for a hot meal to go any Monday or Tuesday night, 5pm-6pm. Volunteers needed in the kitchen Sunday-Tuesday afternoons and for delivery Monday/Tuesday evenings.
Aliveness Project
Aliveness Project is a community wellness center for people living with or at risk for HIV, offering access to free meals, case management, housing support, harm reduction services, HIV testing, on-site pharmacy, clinical care, and social programming in a welcoming space.
Community Aid Network MN
Community Aid Network MN is a Minneapolis mutual aid group that provides weekly groceries, diapers, and cleaning supplies to community members through in-person distribution days and home deliveries.
Avenues for Youth
Avenues for Youth partners with youth ages 16-24 experiencing housing insecurity—including through our LGBTQI-specific ConneQT Host Home Program—by providing stable housing, building trusting relationships, and supporting their goals in education, career, health, and housing, while honoring that youth are the drivers of their own journey.
Family Tree Clinic
Family Tree Clinic's mission is to cultivate a healthy community through comprehensive sexual health care and education. Our sexual and reproductive health clinic provides high-quality, respectful, and affirming affirming care, and we accept a wide range of insurances and never turn anyone away due to lack of funds.
Open Arms of Minnesota
Open Arms of Minnesota began in 1986 with Bill Rowe, our founder, preparing and delivering home cooked meals for people living with AIDS who had become too sick to cook for themselves. Today Open Arms prepares and delivers 1.5 million medically tailored meals at no cost to critically ill Minnesotans and their loved ones.
OutFront Minnesota
OutFront Minnesota is the state’s largest and longest-standing 2SLGBTQIA+ nonprofit, working on state policy, organizing communities, creating equitable education systems, and supporting community through direct services.
PFund Foundation
PFund Foundation—started in Minnesota as a community care fund during the AIDS crisis—today builds equity with LGBTQ+ communities across the Upper Midwest by providing grants and scholarships, developing leaders, and inspiring giving, including through their Transcend Fund, which addresses the emerging needs of our transgender and gender non-conforming community members.
Know another great resource? Please share it with us.
want more info?
The WE HELP US Hotline is a project of Good Judy Productions. For questions and media inquiries, please contact wehelpusmn@gmail.com.
Messaging Terms and Conditions
• By providing your phone number and agreeing to receive texts, you consent to receive text messages from Good Judy Productions, from 844-934-5787, regarding project updates. Message frequency varies. Message & data rates may apply. You can reply STOP to unsubscribe at any time. You can also contact us at wehelpusmn@gmail.com. Mobile opt-in information is never shared with third parties.
Data Sharing
• Caller data is not shared with 3rd parties for promotional or marketing purposes.
• Mobile opt-in and consent are never shared with anyone for any purpose. Any information sharing that may be mentioned elsewhere in this policy excludes mobile opt-in data.
our backers
This project is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board and a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, both thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
