COVID-19, the coronavirus, or as some of us say, the ‘rona, has brought so many changes into our collective realities. It’s been a little more than a month since it hit our area and life as we knew it ground to a halt. The everyday things like grocery shopping, meeting with a friend, or going to a volunteer event are now viewed through a different lens of risk. Some of us have lost jobs, or work has changed in scope. Some of us are missing family and friends. Some of us have lost loved ones, and can’t be there with family to grieve. Some of us are immunocompromised and taking extra precautions, some are missing activities that make life sing like concerts, basketball, yoga, or dance.
Whatever shape your life has taken since this virus hit and changed all of our lives, we hope that this article might help you or someone you know in a small or large way.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
VOLUNTEERING
- For those who feel able to volunteer and are ready to take the appropriate precautions for doing so- a good volunteer resource hub, including opportunities with Voz and APANO.
- Mutual aid efforts are popping up all over the place! Mutual aid is another way to describe it when folks share resources or services for mutual benefit. Visit this page to give according to your ability and take according to your need. This particular mutual aid group is prioritizing assistance to folks who are sick, unhoused, disabled, quarantined without pay, elderly, undocumented, refugees and immigrants, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, trans, and/or queer, including those displaced from Portland to the nearby areas.
- Get to know your neighbors. Exchange phone numbers, let them know what you can do to offer them help if they need it, and let them know what you might need if your household is hit with the virus.
RESOURCES
- This is the most comprehensive list we’ve come across yet! From support for filing unemployment, food resources, loans for small businesses to exercise videos, check it out, share it out.
FUN STUFF TO DO- DON’T FORGET, MIND AND BODY ARE LINKED
- Johnson Creek Watershed Council is compiling a weekly video tour and activity series! So far we’ve had a tour of Foster Floodplain and a water quality lesson at Johnson Creek Park. Check it out on Facebook on Thursdays at 2 HERE. Follow our Instagram stories to keep up with all the new content and glimpse the wildlife HERE.
- Solve has a great page full of activities!
- Free nature journaling class through Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy
- Free gardening course through OSU’s Master Gardener series
- Need some reading material? Buy from Powells at this link and 7.5% will go to support their worker’s relief fund.
PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE
Rose CDC’s fundraising success!
PLACES TO SPEND YOUR $1200 RECOVERY REBATE CHECK IF YOU ARE ABLE
Emergency Fund for Day Labor Workers
From the Portland Water Bureau: Parents, not sure what to do for science class today? Join us for a water adventure! Grab your kiddos for this hands-on watershed activity with Water Resources Educator Tara Bourdon.
Have more ideas you’d like to share? Let us know, we’ll update this page! Email courtney@jcwc.org