In Crisis, Community Proves Our Last Bastion of Relief

It’s hard to overstate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The true nature of the virus remains elusive; new research suggests that the strain we’re battling today is different from – and more virulent than – the strain that emerged in China.

Whatever the strain, its brutality is indisputable. As of May 1, the World Health Organization reported over three million confirmed cases, including more than 221,000 deaths. Yet these cold, dispassionate statistics don’t begin to convey the anguish and heartbreak wrought by the coronavirus. Lives have been cut short, families are grieving, and we’re all forced to balance our fear of contracting the disease with our will to keep moving forward.

Meanwhile, new jobless claims in the U.S. reached 3.84 million in late April, bringing the total to 30.3 million for the previous six weeks. Social distancing, isolation, and quarantine only heighten the dread we Americans have had to live with. Where can we turn for relief?

Testing the fabric of our society

The crisis is relentlessly testing the very fabric of our society. Government agencies, unfortunately, have proven unreliable in addressing the hardship of everyday Americans. Federal support has been inconsistent at best, and, in certain respects, demonstrably negligent.

State government support has been limited as well, not least because the White House has relegated crisis response to governors, and then publicly clashed with them on these decisions and even on procuring critical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and ventilators.

And our employers? With some notable exceptions, the companies we work for face conflicts when it comes to supporting employees and families under pandemic duress. Their allegiance is to shareholders, and their missions are singularly focused on bottom-line returns on their investments.

Community activism our bedrock

Thankfully, grassroots efforts – initiatives that have sprung up among caring, resourceful neighbors and friends – have come through in a way that neither government nor corporate America has been able or willing. Mask-sewing collectives, multifamily grocery runs, Zoom-connected virtual dinner parties, and for-charity family photo shoots are the kinds of actions that help ease the hardship of isolation and quarantine, and that are beyond the reach of government agencies and large corporations.

Mind you, these are no token gestures. These acts tangibly serve our immediate community – including healthcare workers, families with school-age children, neighbors compromised by old age or illness, and guardians of public safety – through the voluntary donation of time, energy, money, and creative problem-solving. There is a measurable, tangible value to these initiatives, notwithstanding the fact that nobody seems to be tracking the time or expenses required to carry them out.

A wellspring of connectedness

My local community is centered in the Town of Harvard, Massachusetts, about 45 minutes northwest of Boston. A tiny burg of just over 6,500 residents, our town center is marked by a General Store and a four-way stop sign intersection. As a community, we value our agricultural heritage, our rustic vistas, and our independent public school system.

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, our citizens have launched many activities, including:

• Funding for books and distance-learning supplies for our elementary school, and for personalized “Class of 2020” lawn signs
• The coordination by several organizations, including local churches and the Council on Aging, of “buddy systems” to pair households for mutual check-ins and lifeline services
• The Front Steps Project (#TheFrontStepsProject), a concept to raise funds for nonprofits by sharing family portraits on social media, conceived by two Boston-area photographers and quickly adopted by photographers in our community and elsewhere around the country
• A local church’s sharing and shopping ministry, to help people obtain groceries, medicine, and hard-to-find items
• An initiative led by our school superintendent with the chef of our school district to prepare and deliver healthy meals for local families who require food assistance, funded – necessarily, since the service doesn’t qualify for National School Lunch Program funding – by private donations and soup sales
• A plethora of online events, including the fire department’s Story Time for Kids, a local concert organizer’s live-streamed evening of acoustic music, and a wellness non-profit’s webinar on coping with crisis

I realize that different communities have unique challenges and resources. Yet I’ve read similar stories of grassroots-bravery and solidarity across the United States. They restore my faith in the human spirit at a time when that spirit feels seriously challenged. As we justly express our thanks to the essential workers who’ve faced down sickness to keep the rest of us safe, healthy, and nourished, let’s take a moment to acknowledge these friends and neighbors who are diligently and creatively reweaving the fabric of our community.

However invaluable, however, voluntary efforts are no substitute for government relief and coordination. Nor should private companies, especially large corporations that enjoy favorable tax treatments, shirk responsibility for supporting their employees’ and customers’ communities in material ways. Much of what we’re experiencing is not a direct consequence of COVID-19, but evidence of longstanding flaws in our social compact only now revealed, in the wake of our pandemic crisis.

Let’s reflect on how we – as citizens, voters, and activists – can pressure policy, civic, and business leaders to forge closer partnerships with community leaders. COVID-19 is not the first pandemic to ravage human civilization, nor will it be the last. We owe it to ourselves and to our nation to learn the lessons of our current crisis – taking stock in both what works and what doesn’t – so that our next one doesn’t hit us with the same blunt force.

Achmad Chadran

[Note: A modified version of this essay appeared in the weekly newpaper The Harvard Press.]