Neighbors Band Together During Coronavirus Shutdown

An anonymous neighborhood mom has set up a table with bagged lunches every weekday by the traffic circle on Leelyn Drive.
An anonymous neighborhood mom has set up a table with bagged lunches every weekday by the traffic circle on Leelyn Drive.
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If ever there was a time to be selfish, it was after the novel coronavirus shut down businesses, forced many people into unemployment, and left families in fear that the pandemic would render them sick or worse. But instead of turning their backs on their fellow neighbors, Severna Park and Broadneck residents took action, following a centuries-old philosophy held by Henry David Thoreau: Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

Around District 5, people helped their neighbors in ways big and small. They brought them groceries, they spread cheer and they used their skills to aid emergency workers who are working to save lives at their own personal health risk. These are just a few examples of how kindness has prevailed in recent weeks.

MAKING MASKS

As a registered nurse and the mother of a doctor in St. Louis, Jennifer Crisp has heard plenty about the nationwide shortage of masks. She’s making masks for those who work in assisted living facilities and nursing homes, home health assistants, firefighters and emergency medical technicians. “Those are often the people forgotten,” she said.

The chair of the Greater Severna Park and Arnold Chamber of Commerce’s health and wellness committee, Crisp has had help from DECA Wrap owner Suzanne Brinks, who is cutting materials for kits to be sent to volunteer sewers.

“We’re basically mass-producing for the home sewer, so we’re not asking them to pick a pattern,” Crisp said. “We’re creating pre-cut kits so all they have to do is sew.”

Crisp created a registration form to find sewers who have their own machines and are able to drop off supplies. She was able to recruit 20 sewers as of March 24.

“Sewers generally are generous people,” she said. “They belong to guilds and do a lot of charity work, like sewing pillows for cancer patients. That’s just normal for them.”

At the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in Maryland, Severna Park resident Leslie Coleman learned from a nurse friend that the hospital where she worked was running low on supplies, including masks. Coleman, who is a baker by trade, is also a crafter. She put her sewing skills to use, and in two days, made 21 masks for all the nurses in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

“My friend asked if I would make masks for her team if she paid me,” Coleman said. “Without hesitation, I agreed, if she got me the materials and didn’t pay me. Having had one of my children in extended stay in the NICU ward, I couldn’t possibly charge these superheroes for making their ‘capes.’”

When word got out that Coleman was making masks, she received more — but smaller — requests from other nurses, a holistic practitioner, and an asthmatic friend.

“Luckily, as a crafter, I had some elastic and extra material, and I also donated those masks,” she said.

WISE member Jess Gorski started collecting N95 masks for emergency workers after speaking with a nurse practitioner and with her cousin, a police detective with the Prince George’s County Police Department.

“They’re going into homes, investigating how people have died,” she said of the homicide detectives. “They had eight masks to share, and they were not even N95.”

Her biggest concern was that while nurses, doctors and police officers have protected and served the public, they have become especially vulnerable to the virus.

“You feel like you’re helping your community, helping emergency responders get the resources that they need, and creating some sense of normalcy,” she said.

Longtime sewer Hannah Warzoha started by making masks for friends who were immunocompromised. Since then, she has sent roughly 140 masks to medical professionals and first responders.

“I never expected to be in a position of making masks for health care workers,” Warzoha said. “I’m appalled by the response of the [president’s] administration, not getting personal protective equipment to people on the front lines. I feel like this is a little thing I can do, and it’s amazing how grateful people are.”

Warzoha said it takes about 10 minutes to create each mask, as she takes extra time for hand-washing and other precautions. She is not profiting from the masks in any way, not even charging for shipping.

Jean Cleckner, the owner of I Do I Do Designs 4 U, is also sewing masks and donating those to Anne Arundel Medical Center.

SHARING FOOD AND SPREADING LOVE

An anonymous neighborhood mom has set up a table with bagged lunches every weekday by the traffic circle on Leelyn Drive.

Julie Jensen started a card donation station at Severna Park Elementary, encouraging people to make cards, draw a picture or write a note to a health care worker.

An anonymous woman and her family in Chartridge bought and delivered flowers to neighbors. One of those neighbors was Julie Werntz Bresson, who was handed tulips as she was leaving her home to visit her mom in Kensington.

“It was really so sweet,” she said. “After talking to another neighbor on the court, I learned that she’s just one of the nicest people around.”

As a youth program director who creates youth programs for nonprofits, Annapolis resident Dee Ward had been working on a speaking engagement about planting seeds in life and relating that message to the actual seeds people are planting in their homes and gardens. He decided to expand the scope of that project after seeing organizations like ACT and NO HARM feeding families, and the Rev. Sheryl Menendez and her organizations donating more than 800 pounds of produce.

“By GLUE already having some gardening supplies, we decided to create an in-home gardening project that can be useful in multiple ways,” Ward said. “First, we asked the communities through Annapolis to donate through our cash app $blackexcel or through our Facebook ‘Newtowne Community Development Corporation’ nonprofit page to create almost 500 gardening kits.”

The kits contain compost and soil mix, veggie seeds with flowers, toilet paper and paper towels, and instructions. Ward and other volunteers are still accepting donations as they distribute gardening kits around Annapolis.

“I like that we are finding ways to stay distanced yet come together even closer than before in a time of need,” Ward said. “Gardening isn’t a process that happens overnight, and like this virus, it’s going to take time to grow and heal. Gardening is a great way to keep others in touch and involved from a distance socially.”

As the number of Maryland coronavirus cases spikes, these local volunteers agree that they will ramp up their efforts, not abandon them.

“The hoarding and panicking is easy when you don’t know what is happening. It’s self-preservation,” Gorski said. “But this is a way for people to connect and to fight off the virus.”

Laura McElwain Colquhoun contributed reporting to this article.

Ways To Help

Masks
Anne Arundel Medical Center has mask-making directions on the website www.living.aahs.org. People mentioned in this article can also be reached. To help, contact Gorski at jgorski630@gmail.com.

Food
Drop off food at a local pantry, like SPAN, or at the Anne Arundel County Food Bank. Details are on Facebook (Food Bank, SPAN).

ACT
To learn about an opportunity to deliver food and essential supplies, go to www.actiaf.org.

Blood
The Red Cross is asking for donations. Go to www.redcrossblood.org to learn more.

Cards
For questions about the card donation station at Severna Park Elementary, email jejensen1@layola.edu.

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