It takes two to start a club on campus, and that is just what co-presidents Jojo McCabe (sophomore) and Sabine Beale (sophomore) did by founding Oxy Mutual Aid Club (OMAC). Beale said what began as a text conversation between two friends over summer break has led to the creation of a campus organization that aims to get students involved in community projects throughout LA.
OMAC made its debut at Involvement-Fair this fall, and has already gained a consistent membership, in addition to hosting events both on and off campus, McCabe said. According to the co-presidents, the idea behind creating a club centered around mutual aid was wanting to provide more opportunities for immediate action in the face of social and political injustices.
“It can be easy to feel like you can’t do anything, and that can be really paralyzing and intimidating,” McCabe said. “We felt from talking to other students that they also feel this way, and so we wanted to organize and bring people together to just go out and do something.”
According to McCabe, while being in the classroom allows students to address issues from a theoretical perspective, the goal of the club is to put theory into practice by participating in events that actively address the needs of people in the Occidental and Greater LA communities. According to Beale, the framing of the club was intentional in order to center solidarity over performativity.
“Mutual aid is more grassroots than charity or traditional volunteering,” Beale said. “It’s giving your time, effort and resources and not asking for any recognition.”
OMAC holds weekly club meetings every Monday, where students help plan the off campus actions that typically take place on Sundays. According to McCabe, these involve water drops, clothing swaps, food distribution and other initiatives aimed at providing people with basic necessities.
The club has collaborated with Water Drop LA, an organization that seeks to provide clean drinking water to unhoused and underserved neighborhoods in Southern California, according to their website. McCabe said student volunteers were provided with bottled water that they drove to various locations and distributed to people experiencing water insecurity.
According to McCabe, their club chose Water Drop LA for some of the first partnerships of the semester because of how accessible and streamlined the distribution process is.
“It’s very beginner-friendly and very simple,” McCabe said. “I think sometimes volunteering can feel kind of like virtue signaling or there can be other weird dynamics, and I haven’t felt that so far with Water Drop.”
According to e-board member Maxine Wray (sophomore), the personal connections formed from participating in Water Drop is what makes the experience so fulfilling.
“I’ve been on the route which is really cool because you can actually see the people that you’re helping and talk to them, and I feel like I really appreciate that interpersonal aspect,” Wray said.
According to McCabe, OMAC was founded with the intention of participating in an exchange of services, rather than one party acting as the provider and the other the recipient. Another e-board member, Ella Bygrave (sophomore), said mutual aid is defined by the aspect of reciprocity.
“With mutual aid, everybody benefits,” Bygrave said. “And I think a big part of that is not being afraid to ask for help, because to be able to be the receiver and also to give is really important.”
This emphasis on shared responsibility is reflected in the way the club operates. There is no top-down leadership, and Bygrave said the e-board meetings are open to all club members. It is a space where students can use their privilege as members of an institution to benefit the community, according to McCabe. This extends into events like education sessions and political advocacy work that contribute to crafting long-term solutions that are being addressed in the short term through volunteer work.
McCabe said privilege can often be a source of guilt, but that participating in OMAC is one way of channeling that guilt into helping others.
“I don’t think guilt is a productive feeling, but it can definitely fuel action,” McCabe said. “And so I would say, get fueled and come hang out with us.”
According to McCabe, one way the club is directly contributing to the student life is through purchasing tools that will be stored in an accessible area for everyone to use.
“We were talking about hopefully fundraising to get pots and pans and do kind of a lending library so that people can actually use the kitchens that no one is using because there’s nothing in them,” McCabe said.
Bygrave said OMAC relies on student input for ideas about what issues need to be addressed. She said she hopes that in the future the club will be a community people can lean on when they are in need of assistance.
The club’s upcoming action is a Santa Monica beach cleanup Nov. 9, a collaboration with Oxy Outdoors Club meant to strengthen connections by spending time in nature and taking the time to slow down at a busy point in the semester, according to Bygrave.
“We just want to really emphasize that it’s low stakes and people can show up how they want to,” Bygrave said. “Everyone is welcome, you could never have come to a meeting before and then show up to volunteering events. We are here and open to everyone.”
Contact Athya Lodhia Paramesh at paramesh@oxy.edu
