In Richmond, community members and students at Earlham College have launched a mutual aid fund that offers financial assistance during the Covid19 pandemic. IPR’s Kwaku Dakwa has more on how it works.

Evan Feldberg-Bannatyne is a student at Earlham College in Richmond. He says he was inspired to start the mutual aid fund after others around him did the same.

The money for the fund comes from people in the community and goes to benefit other community members.

“Fortunately, the community was really supportive of this idea. And there are a lot of other people, and we were able to assemble this amazing, amazing, incredible team of other community members of students, faculty members, etc, who were ready to go all in and pledge a lot of their time, energy, and effort towards ensuring this program’s success and expansion.”

The effort happens online, using money transfer apps like PayPal and Venmo, so no one is breaking physical distancing rules.

After the pandemic, Feldberg-Bannatyne hopes the fund can continue to benefit even more people in the community.