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One Small Thing

Hi there. If you've found your way here, chances are you might be feeling hopeless or scared, and you might need an idea for something to do today to help you feel like you're planning for an uncertain and challenging future, to get affirmation that what you're doing matters, and to feel like you're connected to the world. I often feel that way too, so I've made a list of some of the things I do and plan to do to feel better. Some of them are reading and education-focused, and some of them are direct action; some are a little more involved than others, so pace yourself, and only do what you feel you can, and don't be upset if it doesn't turn out perfectly. It's just One Small Thing. You can always come back tomorrow and try it again, or you can try something new.

 

As Mariame Kaba says, hope is a discipline, and we have to practice every day.

 

If you have more ideas that you'd like me to add to this list, please email them to me at meg.pillow@gmail.com. This list is just getting started, and I'd love to hear from you. 

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I'm really glad you're here. The only way we get through this is together. Please come back again sometime. 

Do you feel like shit? Start here

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Check on a neighbor and see what they need ​

Get the list of needs from your local food kitchen and buy one thing from it 

Donate to Gaza Funds

Take an opioid overdose prevention course (online courses)

Buy some Narcan to have on hand or to give to a friend 

​Donate 10 N95 masks to your local mask bloc

Read Malcolm X's autobiography 

Write and mail a letter to someone you love 

Attend a school board meeting

Get change for a $10 to keep in your wallet for unhoused folks 

Donate to Little Miss Flint's Clean Water Fund

Set up a family and friend phone tree for emergencies 

Attend a local government meeting 

Make a big batch of food and split it with a friend or neighbor 

Check the expiration dates on your at-home COVID tests

Donate to a local bail fund or to the Bail Project

Buy one physical media copy of a favorite album, movie, or television show

Contact your representatives about an issue that matters to you 

Text a friend you haven't heard from in a while 

Sign up to speak at a local government or school board meeting 

Start a document of meatless and low-cost recipes and share it with your friends

Share on social media about an organization's fundraiser 

Donate to or share one GoFundMe 

Back up your documents to the cloud and to an external hard drive

Read up about protest safety

Request your library purchase a friend's book â€‹

Donate to Kentucky Health Justice Network

Buy a case of water bottles to share with delivery people 

Build your disaster supply kit 

Call an elderly family member and ask them to tell you a story, and record it or write it down

Check the expiration dates on your canned goods 

Attend a protest or share on social media about a protest 

Comment something kind or thoughtful on a stranger's social media post

Call a school to see if it has a school lunch balance and pay it or fundraise to pay it 

Set up a disaster response plan for your family 

Update your will 

Give someone a hug and tell them how much you care about them 

Read The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

Buy an air purifer for a local school or small business 

Plant a tree

Write an op-ed for your local paper 

Read Black Liberation Through Action and Resistance

Buy a small sewing kit and learn the basics of how to mend

Make sure you have a physical copy of important passwords

Read up about community archives; consider starting one or find one in your area

Offer to babysit for a friend or neighbor 

Read up on vacant lot restoration and adopt-a-lot programs

Buy a weather radio; if you can, buy one for a friend 

Research local organizations you'd like to volunteer for 

Identify at least one native plant to plant in your yard or community garden

Donate to the Climate Action Fund

Purchase a LifeVac for yourself or a friend

Sign up for a CPR and/or first aid course 

Write down a list of your skills and at least one new skill you'd like to learn 

Research local farms with farmshare or co-op programs

Read at least one new piece of updated COVID-19 research

Make a list of the people in your life and the skills they have (carpentry, gardening, car repair)

Read Our History Is The Future

Share your skills database with the people in your life

If you're going to the store, offer to shop for a family member or friend 

Read and subscribe to Hammer & Hope, A Magazine of Black Politics & Culture

Open a high-yield savings account for yourself or a loved one

Learn how to install a rain barrel

Learn how to knit or crochet

Update your passport 

Start a tool library with your neighborhood or your friends 

Make sure you have a few gallons of bottled water in your basement

Read up on community alternatives to policing

Donate to or fundraise for a local nonprofit 

Read and subscribe to the journal South Asian Avant-Garde

Put all your important documents into a fire-safe file 

Find out if there's a seed library in your town or start one

Read Let This Radicalize You

Find someone else who is hopeless or scared and share this list with them

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