Hard Knox Mutual Aid

03/29/2026

Getting ready for the clothes giveaway today 3-6pm!

Thank you KYDSA and Knox county Indivisible for collecting. Thank you Food NOT bombs Mount Vernon for being the hands today to make this happen.

03/29/2026

More of this 👏 👏 👏

Dave Maggert didn’t think hope was possible for many years. Today, he’s helping others find it—one meal, conversation and prayer at a time.

03/29/2026

Free clothing giveaway Tomorrow, Sunday 29th, 3-6pm community room of Scraps Community Studio - 300 Tilden Dr.

Extra special thank you to Knox county Indivisble and Kenyons KYDSA for partnering for this collection.

02/12/2026

It was awesome to see Community Roots there! 💛

02/10/2026

This is a fantastic article about the Community Building Conference, Check it out! Thanks again to Kenyon College Office for Community Partnerships

On Tuesday, over 25 local organizations gathered to discuss mutualism through a panel and networking event aimed at building cooperative community ties.

02/08/2026

The turnout and participation in the Community Building Conference was so heartwarming.

We’d like to thank Kenyon College Office for Community Partnerships, especially Max Fishman who helped make this happen. Additionally, everyone that came out and engaged in the discussion. You all are what made this possible.

There were many important takeaways, but chief among them was the idea that mutual aid begins with listening and with believing that people most affected by a problem are the ones who hold the solution.

Building on that foundation of understanding, we also heard just how doable meaningful change is when we come together.

We were humbled and grateful to have been a part of the discussion. There is a ton of community building to come.

01/27/2026

Feeling the weight of the world right now?

You’re not alone and you don’t have to carry it by yourself.

In moments like these, community matters more than ever. Join us for our Community Building Conference and learn how to plug into local efforts, build real connections, and turn care into action together.

Its free to attend. Childcare and dinner provided. Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScypjZ8WkBSsfb_xKQVJ0AjRWD46QfOGWXXpsct03jTOVlQ0A/viewform

01/21/2026

Have you ever wanted to dig deeper into community but don’t know where to start?

Come get plugged in February 3rd. We will be getting all the do-gooders in our area together for the Mutualism in Action Community Building Conference.

We will eat Panchos Tacos while our panelists discuss how to make deeper connections in Knox County. After dinner, we will have a chance to connect, time for discussions,, and a chance to visit different organizations tables.

A very special thank you to Kenyon community Partnerships for hosting, facilitating, and catering this event!

01/01/2026

Drop the Stone: A Thought on Leadership in Community Organizing
By Austin Farrell

Hard Knox Mutual Aid has a modest reading list for anyone curious about what we do and why. It begins with the old French children’s tale Stone Soup, a story about how small contributions, freely given, can lift entire communities. The message is simple: when everyone gives what they can, everyone benefits.

But the soup does not start with vegetables or spices. It starts with a stone. Something inedible. The stone represents one simple ingredient: willingness.

In community organizing, that first step is always uncertain. You rarely know who, if anyone, will show up. I learned this firsthand when I created a Facebook meetup group for the free-thought community in Knox County, Ohio. What began as a casual space for connection quickly revealed a need for peer support, and before long I had helped start a Recovering from Religion support group. I did not expect the response that followed, but it was immediate and overwhelming.

At the beginning, organizing feels like dropping a stone into an empty pot in the town square. You do not know if anyone will come. You do not know if it will become anything at all. You might even be laughed out of town.

So why do it?

Ironically to me, the answer is faith.

Faith in people. Faith in humanity. Faith that community is a human instinct. And a stoic acceptance that if no one adds to it, then it was never meant to be more than a stone to begin with. In the end, the community decides what becomes of it.

But history and experience suggest otherwise. We long for connection. We reach for solidarity. That need is already there, waiting.

Sometimes, leadership looks like nothing more than just going first.

So drop your stone. Watch the ripples spread.

Send a message to learn more

12/18/2025

If anybody has any photos they took and would like to share from the Hard Knox Holiday Shop , please feel free to post them in th discussion section of the event, in the comments or send to [email protected].

12/17/2025

Knox County, 👀 look what we did together.

In just 3 short weeks, You helped 293 children across 102 families have a brighter holiday.

With 2 locations, 50 volunteers, and 8 local businesses and organizations, the 2025 Hard Knox Holiday Shop is officially complete 🎄 and I’m honestly in awe. We already can’t wait to do it again next year.

First and foremost, this was made possible by individual families in Knox County ⭐️ like YOU ⭐️ who took the time to donate, volunteer, and spread the word. The abundance families were able to take home is because of you. I hope you really own that. ❤️

Here’s the part that still blows my mind:
The entire event was funded with just like $80, which went toward renting a truck to move toys. That’s it.
This is what happens when people come together in the name of mutual aid.

We were able to do this because:
Find Familiar Games hosted the shop in their businesses at no cost.

SPI - Mount Vernon, OH and Kenyon area partnerships made room for us to use the hallways in between their labs in the Kenyon Wright center. They arranged childcare so our families could play Santa without prying eyes.

Storage Red heard what we were doing and offered to provide free storage for weeks of donations.

Walmart Mount Vernon - Coshocton Ave donated a $50 gift card, which we used to buy headphones for teens

Our friend Margo donated $100, allowing us to purchase 13 pairs of headphones from Five Below.

Maurices donated teen girl jewelry, glasses, and accessories

And a huge thank-you to the businesses, Old Mr. Bailiwick's, PakMail of Mount Vernon, UEC Theatres, Gambeir Childcare Center, and Find Familiar Games, that tolerated mountains of toys in their lobbies and coordinated pickups with our volunteers. You made donating easy and accessible, and I truly don’t think we would have seen this level of generosity if you hadn’t said yes to this crazy idea 🎄❤️🥹

This years Hard Knox Holiday Shop was community care in action.
By the community. For the community.

Thank you, Knox County. 💛