Moments of Hope in Our Local Communities

There are many moments of hope as we navigate through this unprecedented time of the Coronavirus pandemic.

By Jennifer Hall Lee

Everything looks bad, but look closer and you can see that we are helping one another in extraordinary ways.

A recent poll revealed that people during this pandemic have more faith in their local governments than in the federal government. As I watch the press conferences from Los Angeles County government and the California Governor’s office, I have an understanding that we’re all really listening to the instructions from our elected officials. That’s trust.

After seeing the outpouring of volunteers in my own community I believe that we have strong faith in each other and this is another positive place for us to be.

Government institutions are now more important than ever. People need to feel safe and cared for and we need to know that there will be a new day. Feeling safe mitigates fear in unpredictable times.

We live in a time where cynicism about government is a trend that has reached its highest levels. In fact, we have people in our government referring to government as some shadowy nefarious entity often referred to as the deep state. Where this cynical outlook on our government originated and whether it is true is up for debate, but the fact remains: congress and government in general have low approval ratings.

How do we have faith in our federal government when those in federal government have a strong distrust of the federal government? It’s ludicrous.

I could auger myself into a depression if I think too much about that. Instead I look outward to my community.

Stories of hope in the community

Sylvia Vega, a realtor and volunteer on the Altadena Town Council is phoning people she knows who might need help. One woman needed distilled water for her oxygen machine and Sylvia offered to go to the store, however due to panic shoppers there was no distilled water in four stores she entered. Just listening to this story ignited a fear in me – when there is no food or water what does a human do?

However, Vega reached out to her online network and distilled water was offered to her by a friend.

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Courtney Scrabeck, a Pasadena Unified School District parent, volunteered to shop for people at the reserved hours for seniors at the Grocery Outlet Market in Altadena. Many people lined up to wait for the doors to open (the line extended around the building) and others stayed in their cars and handed money to volunteers (gloved and masked) who shopped for them. Scrabeck’s husband, John Pollard, directed traffic into the parking lot. Scrabeck said of all the volunteers and the organization, “It was calm in what could have been a chaotic nightmare.”

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Another PUSD parent, Kitty Cahalan, volunteered to hand out meals for PUSD students at an Altadena PUSD junior high on Tuesday. She said that it felt good to “help make sure local families continue to have some of these critical services that the schools provide.”

I was there on the day Cahalan handed out food. I watched adults driving up with their children to receive meals and even homework also compiled by teachers for those without access to the internet.

This activity was joyfully carried out by volunteers through top-notch organizing by PUSD.

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These acts of volunteerism are examples of the faith we have in each other.

It’s a good time to rebuild trust in our institutions.