The average 20-something wouldn’t spend their Saturday trekking the heat-battered midday streets of Bowling Green with bags of ramen, water and toiletries. The average 20-something may not even know what “mutual aid” is.

But on Saturday, Sept. 17, eight young volunteers were precisely where they wanted to be: Fountain Square Park for Rise and Shine BG’s “Walk for the Homeless.”

Daisy Carter, the mutual aid group’s 24-year-old founder, sat beside two large boxes of around 25 hand-prepared supply kits in Ziploc bags.

She began by asking if everyone knew what mutual aid is. Some shook their heads yes, some no.

“Solidarity, not charity,” she said. “This is a chance for us to stand in solidarity with our homeless community. We’re trying to fill in a gap: our homeless community is being alienated and it’s becoming harder for them to receive and seek services.”

Groups of volunteers divided supplies and set off in different directions. Some went toward Nashville Road, where panhandlers often hold signs for hours at a time.

Carter joined Jada Barnett, a first-time volunteer, to visit Lampkin Park. Barnett, a 23-year-old Bowling Green resident, works at Nashville non-profit Turnip Green, which recycles donations into art pieces that are sold at name-your-own prices.

Barnett said there are notable differences between working with established organizations like Turnip Green and volunteering with grassroots mutual aid groups like Rise and Shine BG. At times, Barnett said organizations can feel burdened by bureaucracy or lacking in community outreach.

“I feel like this on-the-ground stuff, where we’re interacting with people and we see the community, that’s when you know that you’re making a difference,” Barnett said.

As the two searched for individuals in need, they discussed the various reasons they might choose mutual aid over a non-profit: religious differences, inefficient spending, a lack of motivation or passion.

Both said they found what they were looking for in mutual aid. Carter admitted that running the group has been a sizable responsibility, and one she has never paid herself for. 

Even after receiving over $9,000 in donations after the December tornadoes, Carter has put every dollar toward connecting people to legal aid, delivering supplies and providing what she sees as the most direct ways to help individuals.

Carter said that for non-profits that pay staff, buy property or account for budgets, this kind of all-out direct aid would be impossible in the long run. 

After walking the length of Lampkin, Carter and Barnett made their way to Mitch McConnell Park. They stopped to talk to a man named Charlie, who sat on a styrofoam cooler smoking a pipe, and handed him a kit. 

He had no identification – and no address to receive a new ID – but he smiled as Carter and Barnett asked about his day.

When the volunteers reconvened near the walking bridge, a mere hour and a half after starting their work, only one bag of supplies remained. Carter clutched it as the group circled up.

“Well — that’s it,” she said with a smile.

She thanked everyone for coming and closed out the event with what she hopes to remind people each day.

“Whenever you have that free time, no matter if it’s just two hours, you can make a small change,” Carter said. “And I’m glad we could do this together.”

City reporter Michael J. Collins can be reached at [email protected].