President's Post: the Pandemic Super Heroes
Published: October 5, 2021 by Gail Richards, president & CEO
The COVID-19 Pandemic has been overwhelming, impacting everyday lives on a monumental scale. We have been watching turmoil and pain throughout our community and country, including COVID-related deaths of those we know and those we don’t, business closures, job losses, bankruptcies, missed rent payments, racial tension and violence, and an increase in stress and mental health issues.
We have all been affected somehow, no matter who we are. This includes the staff at the Johnson County Community Foundation. While we all recognized the stress that came with the pandemic, personally and professionally, we also came to understand that we were not in a bubble, that our nonprofit partners were doing their part to juggle their own lives along with being considered an “essential” worker to keep resources flowing to the residents and families of Johnson County.
I have to say that the nonprofit groups serving local residents and families stepped up to the plate admirably spending countless hours providing food, links to education, counseling, rent assistance, health assistance and the list goes on and on. Most of these nonprofit employees, like us, were working remotely logging even more hours in an attempt to connect the people with the services needed. Exhaustion became the norm to those service providers.
Additionally, internal nonprofit programs were evaluated and quickly became external programs in order to provide residents and families some semblance of normal during a very challenging time.
The pandemic and fallout from the pandemic isn’t over. The nonprofit “essential” staff are now transitioning from what it was for over a year to what it is now and looking forward to what it can be. They are still tirelessly providing support and services to us, addressing the anxiety that comes from full-blown pandemic mindset to the “new” normal.
I am asking you to ask yourself, “What can I do to make a difference during this crazy time and does it really matter?” Of course, it matters! And the good news is that there’s no better way to address anxiety, collectively and individually, than by immersing yourself in direct community service and supporting nonprofits you believe in either by volunteering or providing financial support.
You are needed now more than ever! Nonprofits are the unsung heroes of the pandemic.
