These days of fear and sadness may be terrifying but they also bring out the best in us. As confusion, uncertainty, and isolation have descended at Grown and Flown Parents we have witnessed moments of phenomenal kindness and generosity.
Ways people are helping others during the coronavirus outbreak
It began with college kids needing to leave campus hastily. Hundreds of members stepped up and offered their homes both as way stations for those without dorm rooms and their garages for belongings that needed to be quickly stowed.
We saw Lisa Jacobson, the Founder and CEO of the well known test prep and tutoring company Inspirica offer our members 1,000 free (distance) tutoring sessions for the ACT or SAT. Her spaces filled up in minutes and our members flooded her with messages of gratitude.
Jacobson made this offer because,
I started my company Inspirica Test Prep 37 years ago. I was sitting here feeling helpless and everyone is so despairing. I’m hoping that this might encourage other companies to start giving services away. I’d like to offer a little bit of light for those of you who could use it right around now. xo
We saw companies like U-Haul and Enterprise Rent-A-Car offer alter their services to college students needing to quickly relocate. Enterprise reduced the minims age required to rent a car to 18 and U-Haul is offering 30-day free self-storage to students with college IDs.
One member of the parents group shared this story,
My Dad’s…neighbors walked over and offered to grocery shop for him. He is 82 healthy in Colorado and I am here across the country. He, in my Dad fashion, said he has everything. I reminded him about a grocery app — he has no idea how that works, I told him to call his neighbor with two teenagers and have them help him to set it up.
This is everything. I don’t know these kids but I am grateful that they are making a difference. Check on your neighbors. Help them set up an app. Or go to the store for them. We are all in this together. Feeling so grateful. We are only as strong as our weakest link.”
We have seen communities come together to provide breakfast and lunches to kids who would usually get their meals at school. And one member, Lara Mordenti Perrault, told us she “sent 40 blue IKEA bags to Tulane to help students move out. IKEA to the rescue.” We have seen thousands of people offer to shop for elderly family members all over the country in order to limit their exposure to the virus.
We have also felt the support of non-profit educational resource, Kahn Academy, offer to help parents, students and teachers with distance learning – something many of us have never had any experience with at all.
But, it not only the parents who have jumped into action. We have seen thousands of college students volunteer in our group, though their parents, to answer questions from high school juniors and seniors who cannot go on college visits or admitted students weekends. Our members have stepped up big time and we hope this will be useful to our high schoolers for months to come.
We raise our children as a village and we are going to rescue them as a village, and each other.
If you have a story you would like to share with us, we’d love to hear it. Drop us an email at grownandflown@gmail.com
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