Neighbors for Neighbors is a grassroots mutual aid group that connects those in need with available resources all over the country, especially in response to disasters.
Neighbors for Neighbors works with organizations and people across the country to do the support work that is difficult to do when they’re in the middle of an emergency situation. We’ve nationally provided resource lists for post-hurricanes, floods, and fires.
What we do:
* Support the supporters rather than add to the chaos by trying to get in there ourselves.
* Ask community grassroots nonprofits and organizations on the ground what they need. They know what’s going on.
* We do the research and shopping they don’t have time to do in an emergency situation.
* We amplify it through untapped social networks they may not be in already.
Absolutely no money is handled by Neighbors for Neighbors– it’s a network for sharing available resources and requests. We do not accept donations of any kind, but we will gladly point them in the direction of need.
All organizations we work with are vetted and verified to the best of our ability. We look for organizations with 501(c)(3) status and/or organizations we know personally. We research all requests to make sure the need is legitimate.
We coordinate and communicate with other grassroots mutual aid organizations to get direct information from the disaster or event.
Behind The Group
Kelly Burr
Kelly’s emergency response experience began at 14. She founded the Oxford Junior Fire Corps and became their first captain before matriculating into the Oxford senior department. She responded with The American Red Cross in New Haven during 9/11.
She attended The University of New Haven in pursuit of a degree in Fire Science, Arson Investigation where she studied emergency scene management, disaster relief, and mutual aid response. While in school, she volunteered with the Allentown/West Haven fire department and interned with The New Haven Police Department’s Arson Squad until a car accident during a response took her out of commission.
She has since trained and volunteered with The Southern Nevada American Red Cross Disaster Action Team and recently trained for response with Team Rubicon.
In 2016, Kelly virtually worked with indigenous grassroots organizations in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline. When the 2020 pandemic hit, she joined The Auntie Sewing Squad, a national mutual aid group that sewed and provided masks, medical supplies and other needs to underserved communities around the country. She worked as a “Super Auntie,” a coordinator and volunteer manager, communicating with grassroots and nonprofits throughout the epidemic.
When life opened up again, she volunteered with area unhoused projects and food banks and supported them by creating remote donation drives.
In 2024, she founded Neighbors for Neighbors with her cousin and mother to respond to the August 18th Oxford, CT floods.
More personnel coming soon!
We formed after the fatal and devastating floods in our hometown of Oxford, Connecticut on 8/18/2024. Oxford had no time to prepare as there wasn’t any warning of the floods.
After the storm, we quickly developed a group to coordinate volunteers, to share emergency information, resources, good news, mental and emotional support, and more.
In times of severe stress and trauma such as post-disaster aftermath, victims can’t think clearly, so we did the thinking for them: We collected the scattered information from many different sources and checked their credibility to try and minimize the risk of the victim being scammed. This created a valuable and trusted network through the use of social media and neighbor connections.