Community Dinner & Really Really Free Market: Practicing Mutual Aid Together
We’re hoping to start a monthly rhythm as a way of practicing together, how to build a community where people can rely on one another.
On the first Tuesday of each month, we’ll host a Community Dinner. On the third Sunday, we’ll meet again at the Really Really Free Market (RRFM). We see these as spaces to learn, experiment, and grow into mutual aid, skill-sharing, and collective self-reliance, not as something we already have figured out, but something we’re building together over time.
At the Community Dinner, we will share food and drinks as we meet our neighbors. Everyone is welcome! A little while into the event, we'll take time to go around and introduce ourselves, sharing:
- Skills/expertise we'd like to share with others
- Skills we would like to learn
- Needs we have, that we hope the community might be able to help with
After the go-around, we'll take some time to share projects and events that we are working on or hoping to start. Then we'll have some more time at the end for folks to chat.
When: Tuesday, May 5, 5:30-7:30pm
Where: Orange County Main Library, 137 W. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough
Then on the third Sunday of every month, we'll participate in the Really Really Free Market in Gold Park. The event is completely free. People bring what they want to give away and take whatever interests them.
This could also be a great place for people to meet up and continue their discussions from the Community Dinner or to offer skill-shares/workshops related to projects they're working on. This space is open to the community for sharing without commercial promotion or advertisement. Anyone can show up and put on a workshop, or offer to fix things for their neighbors, or paint children's faces. This is a space for celebrating the endless bounty of the gift economy!
When: Sunday, May 17, 12-2pm
Where: Gold Park, 415 Dimmock's Mill Rd, Hillsborough
Together, these gatherings are an ongoing experiment in building relationships that aren’t based on transactions, but on trust, reciprocity, and care. If you’re interested in being part of a community that’s learning how to support itself - where it’s normal to both give and receive help - then you’re invited!