Nothing focuses your mind on the impact of a deadly disease than thinking a loved one—and possibly you—could have it.
One of my adult daughters began showing symptoms of COVID-19. Like any concerned parent, I took her to the doctor to be tested. Results took 48 hours, putting our family on pins and needles. And since I’d accompanied her, I had to quarantine myself.
I’m relieved to say the results came back negative. But as I sat in a hotel room by myself for two days, I had a lot of time to think about how this disease has affected our community.
A number have been sick, and some have died. Many of us have had to stay home. Schools, businesses, and places of worship closed their doors. We’ve found ourselves discussing (and maybe even debating) things like face masks and social distancing and hand hygiene.
And then there are the individuals and families for whom the pandemic proved difficult in other ways. The essential workers who stayed the course every day in spite of the health risks. The people who lost jobs, either temporarily or permanently, worrying about if they can feed their families or keep a roof over their heads.
All of this threatens to cast a dark cloud on our future—except it doesn’t. Because we’ve come together as a community.
United Way was a leader in that work. I’m proud to be part of United Way, and never more so than in the past few months. When COVID-19 hit, we immediately activated our Disaster Relief Fund and reached out to nonprofit partners to tackle needs. Donors of all kinds stepped up to support those efforts. Volunteers asked how they could help. The City of Kalamazoo and others came to us to spearhead low-interest loans and grants to support small businesses.
Those are some of the ways we responded. At the same time, we began the work of helping our region recover and revitalize. We’ve taken on the Kalamazoo Continuum of Care to address homelessness. We’ve partnered with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and BIPOC leaders to identify and drive grantmaking in communities of color in Battle Creek. We’re investing $5.57 million in 95 programs to get at sustainable solutions in education, financial stability, health and basic needs.
COVID-19 shined a light on the huge social challenges we face in the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo region. It also reminded us all what we’re capable of accomplishing. We’re generous. We’re compassionate. And we’re ready to get to work.
This week we’re joining with United Ways across Michigan to reiterate our commitment to that work: “United We Will.” That work is immense, and there’s lots more to do. We understand more than ever the plight of ALICE—the four in 10 households struggling to afford the basics of food, housing, health care, transportation, childcare and technology. Our community will be dealing with the mid and long-term ramifications of COVID-19 far beyond 2020. The work to recover, reimagine, and rebuild will take all of us.
But that’s what United Way was built for, to bring together every resource, every person, every idea and voice to make a difference. As a community, we’ve seen what we can do. We rose to the challenge. And we’ll keep rising—together.
Chris Sargent is President and CEO of United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region. To discover how United Ways across Michigan are helping our state and local communities rise, go to www.unitedwewillmi.org
