Mutual Aid Fair providing free groceries, vaccines in Norman

Reese Gorman, The Norman Transcript, Okla.
·1 min read

May 20—Multiple Norman community groups will host a Mutual Aid Fair Saturday in the parking lot of Irving Middle School, where residents can receive free groceries, hygiene products and the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Red Dirt Collective will host the event in partnership with other local community groups, which will each donate and volunteer in their own way. The event will run from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday

The Cleveland County Health Department is providing COVID-19 vaccines; Norman Collective for Racial Justice will host a voter registration booth; Period OKC will provide menstrual hygiene products; Social Injustice League of Norman will volunteer; Little Read Wagon will provide books and Yellow Dog Coffee and Natural Grocers will donate food and groceries — all available to attendees for free.

"Our overall goal as an organization is to organize and mobilize other working class people in Norman as well as the core of Norman, and we do that with several different projects," said Ashley Creed, founder of Red Dirt Collective. "...So really this is just another extension of what we want to do to get the community together and connected, and kind of build a network of people that can connect and rely on each other."

Creed said she is most excited for all these organizations to come together and provide help for Norman residents and the surrounding community.

"We are going to have live music and some games for kids to play," she said. "Games like lawn games, and then a craft area for kids as well."

For more information, visit the Red Dirt Collective's Facebook page.

Reese Gorman covers COVID-19, local politics and elections for The Transcript; reach him at rgorman@normantranscript.com or @reeseg_3.