Corona week 1

Hello blog readers,

I'm going to make an attempt to record these moments. I'm not going to make an attempt to make them perfect. I think you understand why.

Here's what I've been doing:

On Friday night, we offered to host a zoom call to discuss what was coming. I blogged about that in the previous post.

On Sunday night, I asked all QC Family Tree staff to get on a call. We talked about the QCFT staff social distancing protocol. All folks who live in the same house with one another are one thing, but if you don't live in a house with each other, keep 6ft apart for two weeks. We talked about other things and prepped everybody for the brainstorming and strategizing we'd have to do for our Monday morning Zoom call staff meeting.

On Monday, we got to work. We made plans to collect and distribute food in our front yard cart as well as door to door. We started collecting books, enrichment activities, and educational resources for parents and school aged kids in the neighborhood. We created an amazon wish list to share with folks so they could send donations for us to distribute. We started calling neighbors, partners, donors, and vulnerable folks to check in and make sure they were ok. We attended several online meetings with area clergy and organizers.

On Tuesday, we made our rounds and visited neighbors, asking them what kind of check ins they would prefer, could they be a distribution place for food, do they have folks they are checking on, etc. We started sharing information and resources in person (hard copy) and online re:evictions, bill pay, wifi, school resources, grief and trauma resources. We picked up our children's school chrome books and began homeschooling.

Today, we passed out more food, made an information and resource mailbox in the neighborhood for folks to pick up info. We restocked the cart and library with donations from folks. We delivered refrigerated foods from the airport. We attended more zoom calls. We're gathering lists of volunteer online tutors and readers. We put sidewalk chalk out into the neighborhood so that children could express and play.

Here's a link that will keep being updated with info from QC Family Tree. https://tinyurl.com/neighborupdate

And here's a really helpful summary document from our friend, Dr. Trenita Brookshire Childers.

Other things we've done: Celebrated our 12 year old's birthday on Wednesday with pancakes, a board game, and family time on the trampoline. Found out that all of our mortgage paying music gigs are cancelled and began making a plan for how we will cover that. We found a four and five leaf clover, went walking on a greenway, walked and biked through the neighborhood, studied the birds at the feeder in the back yard, danced to a good playlist, started a jigsaw puzzle, and watched a comedy special.

I'm trying to think in the now and also in the future. We've decided tomorrow is communal fun and creativity day.

Am I functioning under stress? Yes. Am I working at my best? No. Am I trying my best? Yes. Are my aid practices decolonized? I want them to be.