A group of Georgetown University students hosted a “solidarity market” Feb. 15 to raise funds for various families and Georgetown community members in need of financial assistance.

Over 50 Georgetown community members attended the market, which convened one block from campus at 37th Street and Reservoir Road and featured independent vendors selling baked goods and artwork. The market raised $2000 for Palestinian families requesting monetary assistance in both the United States and Gaza, a Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS) bus driver who lost his house in Jamaica due to Hurricane Melissa in October 2025 and Georgetown postdoctoral researcher Badar Khan Suri, who was formerly detained by federal immigration officials last year and is now seeking assistance with legal fees.

Anna Broderick (SFS ’26), who helped organize the event, said collective organizing through advocacy and fundraising is important to support people in need.

“We know that we can not only just fulfill the needs of people in our community, but exceed those expectations when we come together,” Broderick told The Hoya. “I think mutual aid is about filling the gaps that the state won’t fill.” 

The previous, inaugural solidarity market was held in November 2025 and raised $4,000 for community members in need of support.

Broderick said while she hoped to match the inaugural market’s fundraising total, she is also focused on building a network across Washington, D.C. for mutual aid and placing pressure on the university administration.

“We wanted to do a market that was accessible for Georgetown students and that was close to campus, and also just build a network of people who are small artists, but also care about a good cause,” Broderick said.

“All of the administration right now is willingly hurting their community members, and they have the means to not do so,” Broderick added. “Listen to what the students and the community are saying.”

Lukas Soloman (SFS ’26), a student organizer with the Georgetown chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) who attended the market, said students without a background in organizing and mobilizing are crucial for events such as the solidarity market.

“You have students who aren’t necessarily organizers, who are putting things together all on their own for the causes that need our support right now,” Soloman told The Hoya. “That’s what mass movement is supposed to look like. It’s not supposed to be in the hands of a few people. It’s in the hands of the masses.”

Tanvi Kamath (CAS ’26), one of the market’s organizers, said the event aimed to foster a sense of community in Georgetown and across the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) area through mutual aid.

“I feel like we just need better engagement with the DMV, in addition to supporting people on our campus, which is critical,” Kamath told The Hoya. “It’s really important for us to get to know people within our school, and not just students, but workers, faculty and staff.”

“Everything is so interconnected,” Kamath added.

The solidarity market raised awareness for the Fall 2025 campaign to stop the university from subcontracting GUTS drivers to a third-party vendor, Abe’s Transportation. In January, the drivers’ union alleged retaliation just over a month after the university pledged to allow drivers to maintain their direct employment and access to benefits.

The market also posted signs advocating for the university to adopt sanctuary campus policies, including blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from entering.

Broderick said the solidarity market aimed to highlight both the sanctuary campus effort and the GUTS campaign, including fundraising for the GUTS driver.

“He’s still at risk of losing his job because the university is attempting to go through with the Abe’s outsourcing,” Broderick said. “There’s also a sanctuary campus campaign that’s going on on campus that would stop ICE from entering campus and targeting individuals like Dr. Suri.”

Kamath said she hopes to continue providing a space for students to organize for change and establish a culture of advocacy.

“We just have to support one another,” Kamath said. “We have to build community power no matter what.”