Today is the day you get 200 emails in your inbox asking for donations. Every nonprofit hopes to raise meager funds on this day, as donations have been harder and harder to come by for most small nonprofits. We all have become inundated with go fund me's, facebook fundraisers, calls for money, support, and aid. Every day is a news day where someone is in desperate need or some disaster has hit. So we are here, on this day, not only asking those of you who make end of year donations to consider HWB, but we are also here with deep gratitude for all of those who are members, donors, volunteers, and coordinators. We thank you, and know we could not do this work without you.

Most people think that HWB is a large and well funded nonprofit. But, we are not. At Herbalists Without Borders, we are small but mighty.  We do not have paid employees or large overhead. We are an all volunteer, grassroots network of chapters, members, projects, clinics, and volunteers working to make a big impact on a shoestring. 

Our largest expense is shipping donations to free clinics, and sponsoring micro grants to help support clinics and projects needing resources to keep going, especially in humanitarian crisis areas and after natural disasters. Every single large flat rate box we ship to US clinics (US mainland, along the border, Puerto Rico) costs almost $18 - plus paper, ink, tape, and gas to drive to the post office. 

Other HWB projects include disaster relief, community apothecaries (including our US Community Apothecary), microgrants, medicinal plant conservation, health justice work, education and advocacy programs, and other programs that meet our mission and vision.

Support Herbalists Without Borders, an all volunteer, membership based,  501c3 nonprofit. Your donations directly support our mission and projects. We rely entirely on membership dues and donations to do our work, and we couldn't do it without you!

HWB projects include free people's clinics, disaster relief, education and advocacy, borderless medicine, medicinal seed saving, community gardens, and more. As an all volunteer nonprofit you know your donation goes to support those working on the ground so that we can offer technical assistance, microgrants, educational support, advocacy, and other resources to support those working in their communities, and to support disaster relief efforts. 

HWB is happy to share our latest podcast with you! This episode we talk with Nicole Rose of Solidarity Apothecary. Nicole works with HWB UK and travels to Calais to work with refugees. She has written a new book - well - listen to the podcast to hear all about it. 

Nicole Rose is an organiser, grassroots herbalist and agroecologist living in England who has been active in struggles for human, animal and earth liberation for over 20 years. Nicole did a 3.5-year prison sentence aged 21 amidst a decade of state repression against the campaign to close down Europe’s largest animal testing company. She’s been supporting loved ones in prison for over 15 years and recently founded the Solidarity Apothecary, a project supplying free plant medicines to people experiencing and recovering from state violence and repression. www.solidarityapothecary.org 

Solidarity Apothecary 
The mission of the Solidarity Apothecary is to materially support revolutionary struggles and communities with plant medicines to strengthen collective autonomy, self-defence and resilience to climate change, capitalism and state violence.
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The Solidarity Apothecary has been making and distributing plant medicines to those on the frontline of state violence. This includes people being arrested, on trial, imprisoned, detained or recovering from these experiences. Plant medicines are distributed via the Anarchist Black Cross, an informal network of prisoner-support and anti-repression groups. Medicines are also o ered to the people doing the support and solidarity work during these times.

The project also aims to support frontline organisers with herbal education and tools to overcome burnout and sustain their work.

Listen to our latest podcast on your format of choice below - or, visit our YouTube Channel.

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/herbal-action-podcast/id1429057753
On blubrry: www.blubrry.com/herbalactionpodcasthwb/
RSS: https://feed.pippa.io/public/shows/5b6b6cb399ad42844b43b743
iHeart Radio: www.iheart.com/podcast/269-Herbal-Action-Podca-29758398/
Spreaker: www.spreaker.com/show/2935570
Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ifkidpkursbdfjp7jitzfetdibi

You can also always find our episodes at our HWB YouTube Channel: 
On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl8tjHkLOGg&t=945s

Leave a comment on this blog post for one entry. Comment on the facebook post for another entry. Comment on instagram post for a third! Entries close on Sunday, December 15, at midnight CST. Names will be drawn from a random generator, and announced here and on our facebook page. We will message the winner to get the shipping address. Books can be shipped anywhere it is legal to ship and to participate in a drawing/giveaway. There is no cash value, and winners cannot exchange this book for any other prize. Good luck!

Season 2 of the Herbal Action Podcast is now launching! We have many new speakers this season, and will be building some of these great topics into live and recorded webinars.

Our first guest of the new season is Finn, the HWB Grassroots Public Health Coordinator.  In many free peoples clinics, if we want to reach impacted communities - especially for disaster relief - we must work with or alongside the public health system to reach those in need. Finn is working with HWB to help Organizers connect those dots to utilize the tools needed to integrate into PH systems.

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/herbal-action-podcast/id1429057753
On blubrry: www.blubrry.com/herbalactionpodcasthwb/
RSS: https://feed.pippa.io/public/shows/5b6b6cb399ad42844b43b743
iHeart Radio: www.iheart.com/podcast/269-Herbal-Action-Podca-29758398/
Spreaker: www.spreaker.com/show/2935570
Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ifkidpkursbdfjp7jitzfetdibi

You can also always find our episodes at our HWB YouTube Channel: 
On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl8tjHkLOGg&t=945s

I am a paramedic, an herbalist, a yoga teacher, a public health professional, an alcoholic in recovery, a survivor of homelessness and domestic abuse, a nurse, an author, a Cannabis advocate, and an activist. I even had a brief stint in the Army, but was never deployed. I am also queer, prefer to use pronouns They/Them, and manage an herbalism business I call, “The Sovereign Health Project.” In my professional life, I work at the state level to improve health systems through coordinated integration projects, education and training, and continuous quality improvement. Primarily these days, I work in cancer prevention (which actually covers everything in public health, from nutrition to access). My professional framework is health equity, and I am a member of several professional organizations that work to improve equity for marginalized or disparate groups. In the rest of my time, I produce literature, herbal products, and other knowledge on anarcho-herbalism, anti-capitalism, and academic critique of the existing healthcare world, which includes reflections on racist origins, the reciprocating power dynamics between medicine and capitalism, and embodied resistance to the social control perpetuated through the medical institution in conjunction with the military-industrial complex. The Sovereign Health Project (TSHP) started out as a general goods apothecary, but quickly became an activist activity after the 2016 election. I found myself frustrated that despite working in a professional capacity on health equity, precious little was being done to actually make a difference in the lives of the most marginalized people. I enrolled in a medic-to-RN program and discovered the American Herbalist Nurse Association, and became a member of that (and plan to continue primary nursing care through herbalism when I finish -- I have one test left that I am on a waiting list to take!). My partners was a member of Iraq Vets Against the War (VAW) and became a resource for me to find social media support for my cause, in the form of other groups such as Bayou Action Street Medics and ACAB. I discovered Herbalists Without Borders after this fashion.

My goal with public health, and, indeed, any health service that I have performed over the past 10+ years, has always been to create better systems, enable more education and knowledge building, and empower people to take action on the health front. In this capacity, I hope to bring together my passions -- public health and activist herbalism -- and help your organization create robust, integrated, and sustainable clinics that serve the underserved and invisible.
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You can check out my social media presence in a few ways:
etsy.com/shop/SovereignHealth
thesovereignhealthproject.wordpress.com (soon to be migrated to a Patreon page)
IG @thesovereignhealthproject

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The spring/summer issue is live!

This issue is packed with info, welcomes, articles, and more! 
New Chapter Coordinator Welcomes
Chapter Updates & News
Seed Grants 2019
HWB Website Update
Cacao, by Miriah Meiers
HWB Tijuana/Hierberxs Sin Fronteras Tijuana 
HWB Northern Lights
Global Herb Events
People's Clinics
Home Herbalist Magazine Insert - Plantain, by Elaine Johnson
And more!
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This issue has a special insert - a sneak peek into Home Herbalist Magazine. The editor is a member of HWB, and our sneak peek is an article by HWB Member Elaine Johnson! Open the newsletter to read the special insert.

A big thank you to Sara Carlson of Home Herbalist Magazine for sharing a sneak peek into this lovely herbal magazine. And thank you to Elaine Johnson for letting us share your article.