“Do it scared”

Kiera O’Brien repeated that mantra frequently in the lead-up to the Santa Fe Burrito Brigade’s Interdependence Relay event on July 12th. If she wanted, she could have mixed in variations.

“Do it tired.” “Do it distracted.” “Do it even if you doubt yourself.”

Kiera has been showing up for Burrito Brigade cooks for about six months. She’s always felt valued and included, but it’s a big step to move from being a participant to an event organizer, even in relatively calm times. But in her case, the prep time for the Brigade’s relay event corresponded with a number of personal and family tragedies. She could have bailed. Nobody would have blamed her.

But at its core, the Burrito Brigade is an exercise in trust. For the past couple of years, one set of volunteers has gathered together in a cohousing kitchen to assemble burritos together, each taking a different role in a collective assembly line. Burritos are then packed into coolers and handed off to a second set of volunteers for distribution in a downtown park. Once there, a second community of trust coalesces. Every neighbor who wants a burrito is greeted with a warm “so good to see you.” The first week, it was a transaction between strangers, but that changed over time.

We are living in an era where “mutual aid” has often come to merely mean charity. But in its truest form, it’s a commitment to building a community where everybody is worthy of having their needs met, and everybody also feels welcome to contribute. So of course, when Kiera approached the Burrito Brigade’s core organizers, Lisel and Shark, with an idea for incorporating a few extra elements into one of their regular burrito cooks, their response was anything but dismissive. Of course they could widen the table, and experiment with some new spices added to a familiar recipe.

And so, on July 12th, there wasn’t just the regular cook. There was a circle of chairs one room over from the coop kitchen. There was fresh banana bread to share, and the reveal of a long dreamed-of project… an educational zine teaching anybody, anywhere how to start their own brigade. Zines were passed out and celebrated, and then the neighbors paused to reflect together, a luxury rarely afforded to them amidst the busyness of most cooks.

Kiera’s question for the group was simple. “Why do you show up to this space?” Again, that reminder that mutual aid is not about some people serving others. It’s a shared answer to a multitude of needs. It’s also the kind of question that reveals the bonds between a group. While every member of the burrito brigade shares a commitment to feeding their neighbors, they come from a variety of backgrounds, ages and political orientations. And so there was a comfort in hearing, in so many voices, a parallel answer.

“I needed this space because I was lonely, because I was seeking connection.”

After 45 minutes, it was time to cook. It’s a group project that the Burrito Brigade has down to a science. There were some newcomers that week, but plenty of veterans to explain the roles. Soon, eggs were scrambled, and pots of pinto beans and roasting pans of shredded potatoes were being readied. And then, the assembly line. 80 burritos, assembled with precision, passed from hand to hand.

Potatoes. Eggs. Beans. Meat. Tortilla. A choice of salsa and green chile on the side.

Soon, the burritos were packed up, alongside pairs of clean socks and bags of dog kibble. Each element a direct response to needs their neighbors had named. Not every city would have a need for dog food, but in a mountain town like Santa Fe, you can’t care for people without caring about their dogs.

And then, the event was over, but again, with the expectation of a hand off. Each cook sets up a distribution, and then the cycle repeats.

Every week, the community grows stronger. Sadly, though, so too does the need. While it used to take nearly an hour for the Burrito Brigade to give out their weekly allotment of burritos, now they’re all claimed within a half hour. They’d love to increase capacity, but doing so requires more financial resources. If you're reading this and are inspired to support the team at the Burrito Brigade, you can do so here.

WHAT WENT IN THE BOX:

The zine! Which you can download a copy of here!

WHAT DECLARATIONS OR COMMITMENTS DID THE GROUP MAKE:

To do it scared. To do it together. And to remember that mutual aid means that everybody is worthy of help, but everybody can contribute.

(And also, a hope that other groups might be inspired, thanks to the zine, to start similar efforts in their communities).