Our Story
OPRF High School Mutual Aid started in fall 2025 with a simple, urgent observation: students needed help getting to and from school safely. As our founders started listening — really listening — to students, important stories emerged. Many were quietly struggling to afford lunch. Basic needs were going unmet. Resources exist in the community, but students didn’t know about them, couldn’t access them easily, or felt too uncomfortable to ask.
OPRF High School Mutual Aid started in fall 2025 with a simple, urgent observation: students needed help getting to and from school safely. As our founders started listening — really listening — to students, important stories emerged. Many were quietly struggling to afford lunch. Basic needs were going unmet. Resources exist in the community, but students didn’t know about them, couldn’t access them easily, or felt too uncomfortable to ask.
That discomfort was the problem we decided to solve first.
We created OPRF HS Mutual Aid to normalize asking for help and make giving back feel natural — a community where neither act requires courage. It’s just what we do for one another in healthy communities. What started as a small, scrappy effort to connect students with resources has grown into a structured mutual aid network, incorporated in January 2026 as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
We are not a charity. We are neighbors taking care of neighbors in solidarity with each other.
Our Story
OPRF High School Mutual Aid started in fall 2025 with a simple, urgent observation: students needed help getting to and from school safely. As our founders started listening — really listening — to students, important stories emerged. Many were quietly struggling to afford lunch. Basic needs were going unmet. Resources exist in the community, but students didn’t know about them, couldn’t access them easily, or felt too uncomfortable to ask.
That discomfort was the problem we decided to solve first.
We created OPRF HS Mutual Aid to normalize asking for help and make giving back feel natural — a community where neither act requires courage. It’s just what we do for one another in healthy communities. What started as a small, scrappy effort to connect students with resources has grown into a structured mutual aid network, incorporated in January 2026 as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
We are not a charity. We are neighbors taking care of neighbors in solidarity with each other.
Our Mission
Our mission is to support the success and well-being of students at Oak Park and River Forest High School by mobilizing the school and broader community to provide reliable, stigma-free access to essential resources — including food, clothing, and other basic needs — so that all students can learn, thrive, and participate fully in school and community life.
Our work is student-centered and informed by student voice and lived experience. We integrate universal design principles to ensure equitable access, dignity, and belonging.
Our Mission
Our mission is to support the success and well-being of students at Oak Park and River Forest High School by mobilizing the school and broader community to provide reliable, stigma-free access to essential resources — including food, clothing, and other basic needs — so that all students can learn, thrive, and participate fully in school and community life.
Our work is student-centered and informed by student voice and lived experience. We integrate universal design principles to ensure equitable access, dignity, and belonging.
Our Philosophy
Many programs make you prove you need help before they’ll provide anything. At OPRF HS Mutual Aid, we operate using a mutual aid framework: if you’re a Huskie, you’re in.
This is solidarity, not charity. Charity flows one direction — from those who have to those who don’t. Solidarity recognizes that we’re all in this together. A student who needs a snack today might be the one stocking the cabinet tomorrow. The community member who donates this month might need something different next year. Mutual aid works because everyone participates and everyone benefits.
We also believe that the best solutions come from the people closest to the problem. That’s why student voice is the foundation of all of our work.
Our Philosophy
Many programs make you prove you need help before they’ll provide anything. At OPRF HS Mutual Aid, we operate using a mutual aid framework: if you’re a Huskie, you’re in.
This is solidarity, not charity. Charity flows one direction — from those who have to those who don’t. Solidarity recognizes that we’re all in this together. A student who needs a snack today might be the one stocking the cabinet tomorrow. The community member who donates this month might need something different next year. Mutual aid works because everyone participates and everyone benefits.
We also believe that the best solutions come from the people closest to the problem. That’s why student voice is the foundation of all of our work.
Our core values
Student-Centered
We believe those closest to the challenge are the key to the solution. Every initiative we run is shaped by the actual voices and lived experiences of OPRF HS students - not assumptions about what they need. Resources are provided with the respect and privacy every student deserves, always.
Stigma-Free
Dignity is a prerequisite for learning. We've removed the barriers - no paperwork, no proof of need, no public scrutiny. By integrating universal design principles, we ensure that every student can access essential resources seamlessly, because getting what you need should never feel like a spectacle.
Mutual, Not Charity
Mutual aid isn't charity flowing one direction, it's neighbors taking care of neighbors. The Huskies stocking the cabinets today could be the ones who need them tomorrow, and that's the whole point. No hierarchy between who gives and who receives, just a community that shows up for itself.
Student-Centered
We believe those closest to the challenge are the key to the solution. Every initiative we run is shaped by the actual voices and lived experiences of OPRF HS students - not assumptions about what they need. Resources are provided with the respect and privacy every student deserves, always.
Stigma-Free
Dignity is a prerequisite for learning. We've removed the barriers - no paperwork, no proof of need, no public scrutiny. By integrating universal design principles, we ensure that every student can access essential resources seamlessly, because getting what you need should never feel like a spectacle.
Mutual, Not Charity
Mutual aid isn't charity flowing one direction, it's neighbors taking care of neighbors. The Huskies stocking the cabinets today could be the ones who need them tomorrow, and that's the whole point. No hierarchy between who gives and who receives, just a community that shows up for itself.
Our core values
Student-Centered
We believe those closest to the challenge are the key to the solution. Every initiative we run is shaped by the actual voices and lived experiences of OPRF HS students - not assumptions about what they need. Resources are provided with the respect and privacy every student deserves, always.
Stigma-Free
Dignity is a prerequisite for learning. We've removed the barriers - no paperwork, no proof of need, no public scrutiny. By integrating universal design principles, we ensure that every student can access essential resources seamlessly, because getting what you need should never feel like a spectacle.
Mutual, Not Charity
Mutual aid isn't charity flowing one direction, it's neighbors taking care of neighbors. The Huskies stocking the cabinets today could be the ones who need them tomorrow, and that's the whole point. No hierarchy between who gives and who receives, just a community that shows up for itself.
Our Founders
OPRF HS Mutual Aid was founded in Jan 2026 by four Oak Park and River Forest community members who saw a need and decided not to wait for someone else to address it.
Mollie Hertel
Mission lead (Co-President)
Resident of Oak Park for over 10 years. U.S. health policy subject matter expert. Mom to two OPRF Huskies.
Meghan Reilly
Finance lead
Psychotherapist. Resident of Oak Park for 3.5 years and mom to two OPRF Huskies and a future Husky.
Mika Yamamoto
Mission lead (Co-President)
Resident of Oak Park for 8 years. Educator and mom of two OPRF Huskies.
Afshan Syed
Director
Experience Design Strategist. Resident of Oak Park for 18 years. Mom to a OPRF Husky and a future OPRF Husky.
Together we built OPRF HS Mutual Aid from a conversation into an organization — one that puts students at the center of every decision and treats community support as a responsibility, not a favor.
Our Founders
OPRF HS Mutual Aid was founded in Jan 2026 by four Oak Park and River Forest community members who saw a need and decided not to wait for someone else to address it.
Mollie Hertel
Mission lead (Co-President)
Resident of Oak Park for over 10 years. U.S. health policy subject matter expert. Mom to two OPRF Huskies.
Meghan Reilly
Finance lead
Psychotherapist. Resident of Oak Park for 3.5 years and mom to two OPRF Huskies and a future Husky.
Mika Yamamoto
Mission lead (Co-President)
Resident of Oak Park for 8 years. Educator and mom of two OPRF Huskies.
Afshan Syed
Director
Experience Design Strategist. Resident of Oak Park for 18 years. Mom to a OPRF Husky and a future OPRF Husky.
Together we built OPRF HS Mutual Aid from a conversation into an organization — one that puts students at the center of every decision and treats community support as a responsibility, not a favor.
Ready to get involved?
Ready to get involved?
Whether you need support or want to give it — there’s a place for you here.
Whether you need support or want to give it — there’s a place for you here.