Briana & Zoli's Direct Action Bus Ministry

Will you support our dream to live full-time out of a converted school bus so we can be available to the movement of Spirit and go where our bodies will be of the most use in resistance to Empire? 

**NOTE** There is currently no way to donate to our direct action bus fundraiser through the Releasing Ministry Alliance website. If you would like to offer a donation to this ministry, please go through this Bus Conversion Registry page and know that all donations made to that platform will be used to support this ministry in the same way they would be if they were received on this Releasing Ministry Alliance page. Thank you in advance!!

Dear F/friends,

My partner, Zoli, and I recently traveled to a direct action camp in Minnesota to stand in solidarity with the Ojibwe and Anishinaabe in resistance to the Line 3 Pipeline currently under construction across 337 miles of Anishinaabe treaty territory. We did our best to be as little of a burden as possible to the indigenous communities we stayed with, but found it difficult to care for ourselves and serve in the direct action roles we'd signed up for without leaning heavily on the camp infrastructure and indigenous leadership for support, despite being totally prepared for the harsh reality of winter camping in northern Minnesota and entering the space with a clear intention to be as unburdensome as possible.

Zoli and I both feel clearly led to continue serving on the frontlines of direct action movements in resistance to projects like the Line 3 Pipeline and are ready to devote our entire lives to the pursuit of justice through non-violent direct action. It is imperative to us that we embark on this journey into full-time activism with integrity and grace and that we only go where we are invited and stay as long as we are needed - be that a single day, a couple of weeks, or many months for longer term resistance movements.

In order to serve the communities who are in need of support from white-bodied individuals willing to risk arrest for the sake of water, land, human rights, or whatever else may be at stake, at our fullest capacity without inadvertently becoming a burden, and to minimize our impact on the environment by consolidating our lives into the smallest footprint possible, we want to buy a bus and convert it into a tiny home on wheels (and yes, we are considering alternatives to fuel, like used vegetable oil!).

Buying and converting a school bus to live in full-time is a huge undertaking, we know. A lot of research, planning, and preparation are going into the project and we can use all the help we can get! Can you help fund our dream to live full-time out of a converted school bus so we can be available to the movement of Spirit and go where our bodies will be of the most use in resistance to Empire to make this world a better place? In return you will have access to our website (which is currently under construction) where we will send you updates about our journey with in-depth information about the direct action movements we are part of including ways you can support the resistance movements from the comfort of your home.

We decided to create this fundraiser so our friends, family, and extended communities can support us in whatever ways you are able and by proxy support the direct action movements we attend. We are committed to contributing (at least) 10% of the proceeds raised from this fundraiser to a dedicated Resistance Fund which will be used to contribute donations to the direct action camps we visit along the way and to support the continuation of resistance efforts from afar.

We are considering asking someone from within New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM) to serve as a Trustee for this project to ensure any funds received are being used with the utmost integrity to support our ministry and the communities and causes who will benefit from it the most. I am currently under the care of a Ministry Oversight (M.O.) Committee and am being supported financially by a generous grant from the NEYM Legacy Gift Fund that I received in September, 2020. I will continue to meet with my M.O. Committee while this ministry is alive in me in order to preserve the integrity of the Call and to be careful not to outpace my Guide. 

Our hope is that the majority of our conversion will be built from donated materials so we aren't contributing to the throw-away society of consumerism that is at the root of many of the issues we are trying to resist. There are a number of materials and appliances that we will need to make our bus a home which are listed in the "Needs" section and in a separate Google document. 

To see a full list of the specific items we need for our conversion and for information about how to donate individual materials, please check out our Bus Conversion GoogleDoc and/or be in touch via email at: directactionbus@gmail.com. We've also created a registry page where you can contribute general cash donations to help us afford things like the bus itself, building materials, solar installation, etc. The link to that registry is here: Bus Conversion Registry.

Please donate whatever you are able and know that no donation is too small - every penny counts! Thank you for your support and we hope to see you on the road!