HeaterBloc Reno is a new grassroots coalition helping the unhoused survive the bitter winter cold.
With average nightly temperatures below freezing, looming large for many unhoused, is the threat of hypothermia and death by environmental exposure. To combat this concern, a new mutual aid group, HeaterBloc Reno, has emerged to provide tent-safe, do-it-yourself heaters to the unhoused community. However, before coming here, the heaters proved their success elsewhere.
“HeaterBloc fostered more connection and collaboration with unhoused neighbors than I’d ever before experienced, and I now know that's crucial to movement work,” Kelsey Corvidae, who founded the group in Reno, explained.
In 2012, Corvidae had moved from Reno and spent time in Philadelphia and Colorado Springs, where they learned about the heaters and their success in other cities. After spending last year in the harsh Colorado winter helping make heaters with a mutual aid group there, Corvidae moved back to Reno and learned a HeaterBloc group didn’t exist in Reno. So they decided to start it.
According to Corvadae, “Bloc” refers to an affinity group or coalition, and the heaters are made using a guide which can be located online. The instructions state “The cost of the Copper Coil Burner is around $2.00 each and the Enclosure is about $5 in parts,” making the heaters cost roughly $7 total.
The items used are mostly household, like a mason jar and copper tubing, and have built-in safety features to prevent fires.
Corvidae says the original guide can still be followed “step by step”, but they’ve made some innovations to it in Reno, such as replacing the dinner plate at the base with one that is 3D printed. They also now soder the coil to the jar lid as opposed to using JB weld.
For Corvidae, distributing these heaters encourages connection and collaboration with the unhoused community in a way that’s uniquely different from handing someone a meal or single-use item. “The nature of the heater encourages a recurring relationship between the person who makes it and the person who uses it,” they said.
Corvidae explained how when they first pass one out, they’ll accompany it with a demonstration and safety lesson. This fosters more of a friendship- “When I give someone a heater I offer them my phone number, I ask their name and where they're camping, I try to figure out how I can check in on this person and that starts a connection, a potential friendship,” they said.
When asked about the biggest barriers to reaching those in need, Corvidae was blunt and to the point. They said it is the “City’s endless efforts to disappear those in need, full stop.” They said it's hard to “keep tabs on our neighbors who are forced to stay on the move constantly.”
Furthermore, Corvidae added the people who need the heaters the most may not be able to, or feel safe coming to a “big line downtown.” In response, their group plans to visit camps and distribute all around town directly.
Despite the barriers, Corvidae has experienced the impact of the heaters firsthand. Last month, while doing a distribution downtown, a group of unhoused friends stopped by to chat. One person excitedly told them they recognized the design from a past winter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and that it had saved their life from the cold then. They were excited to get the word out to their friends that the heaters had arrived in Reno, and volunteered to help.
Ultimately, Corvidae sees housing as a human right, and thinks that this is too often portrayed as a “fringe-radical view”. The hope of collectives is that “we attract others who know these same basic truths, and can make plans for larger community actions, while [also] making our friends tent heaters.”
With this being a grassroots effort, the local community plays an essential role in ensuring Corvidae’s group is successful. They’re “local on all levels”, and have been receiving support from other mutual aid groups like Hampton House, Biggest Little Food Not Bombs, and Family Soup Mutual Aid to name a few.
If you are interested in getting involved or supporting HeaterBloc Reno, they can be contacted via Instagram @heaterblocreno, email on heaterblocreno@proton.me and accept donations via cash app: $heaterblocreno
Our Town Reno reporting by Dan Mariani