The First "People's Distro"
The First "People's Distro"
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Sarah Selan | June 14, 2025
Outside of the New Era Clubhouse on Buckeye Road | June 10, 2025 | Photo by the People's Press
On Thursday, July 10th, the first People’s Distro took place outside the New Era Clubhouse on Buckeye Road. A group of enthusiastic volunteers from different organizations such as New Era Cleveland, the Cleveland Palestine Advocacy Community, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Palestinian Youth Movement, Mothers Against Genocide, and more worked together to get needed supplies to people on the streets of Cleveland. Among the volunteers were Cleveland politicians Sharon Spruill and Rehan Waheed running for election in wards 3 and 4 respectively.
Supplies and tents were located in front of the New Era Clubhouse | June 10, 2025 | Photos by the People's Press
The beginning of the event was shaky, when it was announced an hour prior that the food shipment coming from The Greater Cleveland Food Bank was canceled. The food bank lost access to approximately 1 million dollars worth of food back in March due to government funding restrictions and with the current presidential administration cutting programs such as SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), funding towards essential food distribution is being divested rapidly. Despite the setback, the 15-20 volunteers chipped in what they could and rerouted to a new plan of passing out cleaning supplies. Paper towels, wipes, hand sanitizer, and other various sanitary products lined the tables and were separated in bags for people passing by. Clevelanders on bikes, in cars, and on foot stopped by while volunteers bagged what they needed and passed out flyers for upcoming community events, election information, and ‘know your rights’ literature. Visitors expressed gratitude towards the mutual aid collective– especially for the water being distributed as the temperature hit 85* around 6pm– an hour after the event began.
Water distribution outside of the New Era Clubhouse | June 10, 2025 | Photos by the People's Press
Around 6:30pm, the local mutual aid organization Food Not Bombs gathered some of the food from their fridge at Cleveland Roots to supply much needed sustenance to the distro. Their donation included tomatoes, carrots, apples, and other fresh fruits and vegetables. At the same time, a generous distribution of toys, clothes, and household supplies was received from Burten, Bell, Carr, a mutual aid collective that had heard about the event and wanted to contribute.
Distribution of donated supplies outside the New Era Clubhouse | July 10, 2025 | Photos by the People's Press
In the end, it was estimated that over 40 community members of all ages picked up items at the distro. The People’s Distro is expected to continue running and is set to release a schedule in the upcoming weeks. There is also a plan to gather community donations to support the distro and the people of Cleveland.
Follow @ThePeoplesDistro on Instagram to stay in the know about their future endeavors.
If you would like to help support The People's Distro, you can donate here!
Follow @ThePeoplesDistro on Instagram to stay in the know about their future endeavors.
If you would like to help support The People's Distro, you can donate here!
Distribution of donated supplies outside the New Era Clubhouse | July 10, 2025 | Photos by the People's Press
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